[MPWG] Fw: PRESS RELEASE - ABC Adds New Members to Advisory Board

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Better late than never!  Congratulations to the new members of the 
American Botanical Council (ABC) Advisory Board, several of whom are also 
MPWG members and partners.   Details below!

AMERICAN BOTANICAL COUNCIL
P.O. Box 144345, Austin, TX 78714-4345
Phone: 512-926-4900 x121; Fax: 512-926-2345
Contact: Nancy Moon
Email: nancy at herbalgram.org
Web site: http://www.herbalgram.org/
 
Editor’s Note: Mark Blumenthal is available for interviews. Please contact 
Nancy Moon per above.
 
February 17, 2006 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Release
ABC Adds New Members to Advisory Board
 
(Austin, Texas) The American Botanical Council has recently added 13 new 
members to its Advisory Board. The latest advisors include experts from 
the broad field of sciences and academic disciplines related to herbs and 
medicinal plants. These include the areas of botany, ethnobotany and 
horticulture, analytical chemistry, clinical medicine, integrative 
medicine, and nursing, pharmacology and toxicology, as well as informatics 
and quality control issues.
 
“We are deeply grateful that these herbal medicine experts and clinicians 
have accepted our invitation to join the ABC Advisory Board,” said Mark 
Blumenthal, Founder and Executive Director of ABC. “In many cases, the 
appointments simply formalize long-term relationships and friendships. 
Many have already contributed their time and expertise to assisting ABC 
staff in the editorial development of numerous articles for ABC’s 
publications, such as HerbalGram, HerbClip, and The ABC Clinical Guide to 
Herbs.” 
 
In addition to numerous other duties, the primary role Advisory Board 
members play at ABC is participating in the peer review of ABC 
publications. However, they also assist in an advisory capacity, helping 
to determine ABC policy and activities. The 13 new members join 51 other 
scientists, clinicians and other experts who currently comprise the ABC 
Advisory Board.
 
The new ABC Advisory Board members are the following: 
 
Ezra Bejar, PhD, Director of Technical Sciences, Herbalife International, 
Los Angeles, CA. A pharmacologist with extensive expertise in the use of 
bioassays for botanicals and in evaluating the safety and efficacy of 
dietary supplements, Dr. Bejar is also the co-author of Herbs of Southern 
Ecuador: A Field Guide to the Medicinal Plants of Vilcabamba (LH Press, 
2001). He has written chapters for several books on dietary supplements 
and currently serves as an editorial board member of the journals 
Phytomedicine and Phytotherapy Research.
 
Josef Brinckmann, Vice-President of Research and Development, Traditional 
Medicinals, Inc., Sebastopol, CA. Mr. Brinckmann is an expert on herb 
quality control and international herb monographs. He is co-editor of 
Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs (IMC, 2000) and The ABC 
Clinical Guide to Herbs (ABC, 2003) and co-translator and editor of the 
recent edition of Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals: A Handbook for 
Practice on a Scientific Basis (Medpharm, 2004) and Medicinal Spices: A 
Handbook of Culinary Herbs, Spices, Spice Mixtures and their Essential 
Oils (Medpharm, 2006). He also edits the Medicinal Plants and Extracts 
newsletter for the Market News Service of the International Trade Centre.
 
Trish Flaster, MS, Executive Director, Botanical Liaisons LLC, Boulder, 
CO. Ms. Flaster has worked in both the natural products and pharmaceutical 
industries where she has formalized botanical identification systems, 
sourcing of unique botanicals, completed sustainability studies, and 
protects the intellectual rights of native peoples with whom she 
collaborates. She has served as the editor of the newsletter for the 
Society for Economic Botany for 20 years and is currently producing an 
online virtual herbarium to satisfy the new GMP requirements for the 
natural products industry .
 
Charlotte Gyllenhaal, PhD Research Assistant Professor, Program for 
Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of 
Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago; Research Program Manager, 
Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care, Evanston IL; Associate Editor, 
Integrative Cancer Therapies. In addition to her research on integrative 
cancer care, Dr. Gyllenhaal lectures on herbal medicine in the Colleges of 
Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is a 
co-investigator of the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group 
project, "Studies on Biodiversity of Vietnam and Laos."
 
Ken Jones, President and Medical Writer, Armana Research, Inc., Halfmoon 
Bay, B.C., Canada. Mr. Jones is co-author of Botanical Medicines: The Desk 
Reference for Major Herbal Supplements, 2nd Edition (Haworth Press, 2002), 
a textbook of extensive monographs on 33 herbs. He is also the author of 
numerous books, including Nutritional and Medicinal Guide to Hemp Seed 
(Rainforest Botanical Laboratory, 1995), Cat’s Claw, Healing Vine of Peru 
(Sylvan Press, 1995), and various extensive reviews on herbs and related 
natural ingredients.
 
Edward Kennelly, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of 
Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, 
NY. Dr. Kennelly, whose work has been published several scientific 
journals, is currently researching botanicals for women’s health and 
cancer-chemopreventive constituents from tropical fruits. Dr. Kennelly’s 
phytochemical analysis was the foundation of a recent HerbalGram article 
entitled “85-Year-Old Black Cohosh Root Still Contains Active Compounds.” 
(HG 66)
 
Ikhlas Khan, PhD, Professor of Pharmacognosy; Assistant Director, National 
Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi, Oxford, 
MS. The multilingual and highly prolific Dr. Khan is the Core Leader for 
research groups examining analytical fingerprinting for standardization of 
herbal materials and products.  In recognition of his many scientific 
publications on the chemistry of botanicals, the International Society for 
Horticultural Science presented Khan with its 2005 Award for Meritorious 
Service. Prof. Khan also directs an annual conference, cosponsored by the 
University of Mississippi and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 
quality, safety and efficacy of botanical dietary supplements.
 
Richard Kingston, Pharm D, CSPI,  President, Regulatory and Scientific 
Affairs, Safety Call ™ International Poison Center; Professor, Department 
of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, University 
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. An acknowledged expert on safety issues 
related to dietary supplements and drugs, Dr. Kingston is also the 
director of the recently-formed National Center for Dietary Supplement 
Safety at the University of Minnesota.
 
Roberta Lee, MD, Medical  Director, Co-Director Integrative Medicine, 
Continuum Center for Health and Healing; Director of Medical Education and 
Integrative Fellowship, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY. Dr. Lee 
is the co-author/editor of Integrative Medicine: Principles for Practice 
(McGraw-Hill, 2004) and was one of the first fellows in Dr. Andrew Weil’s 
Integrative Medicine Program. Dr. Lee also holds an honorary fellowship at 
The New York Botanical Garden where she conducts research on the 
traditional uses of botanicals in Micronesia.
 
Martha Libster, PhD, RN, CNS, Associate Professor of Nursing and History, 
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Dr. Libster is author of Herbal 
Diplomats (Golden Apple Publications, 2004) and Integrative Herb Guide for 
Nurses (Delmar, 2001). The American Association for the History of Nursing 
awarded her the 2005 Lavinia Dock Award for Exemplary Historical Research 
and Writing. Dr. Libster has been a clinical herbalist for 15 years and 
speaks internationally on the complementarity of nursing and healing 
traditions.
 
Marc S. Micozzi, MD, PhD, Former Executive Director for Integrative 
Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA; 
Director, Policy Institute for Integrative Medicine, Washington, DC. 
Former Director, National Museum of Health and Medicine, Washington, DC. 
Dr. Micozzi has authored and edited 16 textbooks, including the textbook 
Fundamentals of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, 3rd edition 
(Elsevier Health Sciences, 2006). 
 
Holly Shimizu, Executive Director, United States Botanic Garden, 
Washington, D.C.  Ms. Shimizu is a former curator of the National Herb 
Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. She served as Managing Director of 
the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA, for four years before 
returning to the USBG in 2000. For the last 12 years, Ms. Shimizu has 
worked as a special correspondent for The Victory Garden on PBS.
 
Jacqueline Wootton, M.Ed., President and Director, Alternative Medicine 
Foundation, Inc; Director, HerbMed® database and HerbMedProTM, the 
professional version of the database, unique research tools that are a 
benefit of ABC membership at or above the Academic level. Ms. Wootton was 
the Executive Editor of the Journal of Alternative & Complementary 
Medicine from 1996-2001, and is currently a section editor. She also 
serves as an Associate Editor for Seminars in Complementary Medicine and 
is a member of the international editorial board for Evidence-Based 
Integrative Medicine.

The names of the new ABC Advisory Board members will be listed with the 
current advisory board in HerbalGram and on the ABC website (
www.herbalgram.org).
 
 
About the American Botanical Council
Established in 1988, the American Botanical Council (ABC) is the leading 
nonprofit, member-based international organization working to educate 
consumers, healthcare professionals, researchers, educators, industry, and 
the media on the safe and effective use of herbs and medicinal plants 
products. ABC is located on a 2.5 acre site in Austin, Texas where it 
publishes HerbalGram, a peer-reviewed quarterly journal, and HerbClip, a 
twice-monthly series of summaries and critical reviews of recently 
published herbal literature. ABC is also the publisher of The ABC Clinical 
Guide to Herbs, a continuing education and reference book, which contains 
extensive monographs on the safety and efficacy of 29 popular herbs. More 
information is available at http://www.herbalgram.org/.
 
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