Membership

Expert Advisory Committee

Committee Members

• Dr. Joseph M. Betz
• Dr. Heather Boon (Co-chair)
• Dr. David Brulé
• Dr. Michael Chung
• Dr. Mary Hardy
• Dr. Ikhlas Khan
• Dr. Francis Law
• Dr. David Lescheid
• Dr. Gillian Leverkus
• Dr. Michael R. Lyon
• Dr. Leonard Piché
• Dr. Andrew Mcnab
• Ron Rosenes
• Dr. Fereidoon Shahidi

Expert Advisory Committee Member Biographies

Joseph Betz
Director, Dietary Supplements Methods and Reference Materials Program
Bethesda, MD, USA.

Joseph M. Betz, Ph.D. joined the Office of Dietary Supplements (U.S. National Institutes of Health) as Director of the newly formed Dietary Supplements Methods and Reference Materials Program in December of 2001. In this role, he oversees efforts to enhance and stimulate research and training in fields relevant to dietary supplements at the NIH and to promote development of validated analytical methods and reference materials for use by industry, regulatory agencies, and clinical researchers. Prior to this appointment, he was Vice President for Scientific and Technical Affairs at the American Herbal Products Association. Before joining the AHPA, he spent 12 years as a research chemist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Dr. Betz is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy (1988) under the tutelage of Dr. Ara Der Marderosian at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia). His research interests lie in the areas of toxic natural products, plant derived foods that may prevent chronic disease, and in analytical methods for determination of botanical quality. He has been a principal investigator in the "Designer Foods" program funded by the NIH's National Cancer Institute as well as Project Manager for FDA's "Plant Toxins" and "Chemical, Biological, and Toxicological Characterization of Food Plants" research programs. He has served as General Referee for Botanical Supplements for AOAC International and served as FDA's representative to the United States Pharmacopeia's Subcommittee on Natural Products. He was elected to USP's Committee of Experts for the years 2000-2005. Dr. Betz has over 30 publications in the area of plant toxins, dietary supplements, and analytical methods for determination of bioactive phytochemical constituents of botanical products.

Heather Boon
Pharmacy, Health Services Research
Toronto, ON.

Dr. Heather Boon, BScPhm, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and a CIHR New Investigator. In addition, Dr. Boon is cross-appointed to the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, both in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. She was originally trained as a pharmacist, completed a PHd in medical sociology (U of T) and a Post-doctoral Fellowship in Centre for Studies in Family Medicine (UWO). Dr. Boon is one of the Founding Chairs and Principal Investigators of the Canadian Interdisciplinary Network for CAM Research which recently received five years of funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health and Natural Health Products Directorate (Health Canada).

She is also a member of Health Canada's Expert Advisory Committee for Natural Health Products. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on complementary/ alternative medicine and is co-author of the text:
A Complete Natural Medicine Guide to the 50 Most Common Herbs: A Botanical Pharmacy. Her primary research interests are patients' use of complementary / alternative medicine, the safety and efficacy of natural health products and complementary/ alternative medicine regulation and policy issues. Her current research focuses on exploring how complementary/ alternative medicine is (or is not) being integrated with the Canadian health care system and the implementation and impact of the federal natural health product regulations.

David Brulé
Doctor of Homeopathy
Toronto, Ontario

David Brulé, HD, has been in private practice in homeopathic medicine for 7 years, and in that time has been very active in the homeopathic community, and more recently, in the homeopathic medicine research community. He has been recently awarded the Sick Kids Foundation Complementary and Alternative Health Care and Paediatrics Research Cross-Training Awards Competition, studying under the tutelage of Dr Sunita Vohra, MD and the team at the Complementary and Alternative Research and Education Program (CARE), Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. David has also been active in his homeopathic association (Ontario Homeopathic Association), serving on the board of directors for over 6 years (excluding a 5 month hiatus). The tenure has included one year as president, as well as the past year as a member of the government affairs committee. This committee is in negotiations with the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council of Ontario to explore the possibility of regulation of the profession of homeopathy in the province of Ontario. Having been so involved with the concerns of the practitioner community, David brings expertise and understanding of the challenges faced by homeopathic practitioners in Canada. David has seen a wide variety of patients in his private practice, and has begun to focus his practice on pediatric homeopathy - his current research topic is the homeopathic treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Ikhlas Khan
Aruyveda
Mississippi, USA

Dr. Ikhlas Khan is the Director of the FDA Program, a Research Professor, as well as Professor in the Department of Pharmacognosy at the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi. He received a B.S. in Chemistry in 1980 and a M.S. in Organic Chemistry in 1982 from the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. Dr. Khan then received a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the Institute fuer Pharmaceutische Biology in Munich, West Germany in 1987 and postdoctoral studies at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. After completing his education, Dr. Khan began his career with the University of Mississippi in 1992 as a research scientist. He became a research assistant professor in 1995, and was promoted to research associate professor and director of the FDA program in 2001, assistant director of the center in Oct. 2002 and to professor in July 2005.

Dr. Khan's primary research interests include analytical fingerprinting for standardization of herbal products, and bio-analytical approaches to improvement of product quality and safety.

Dr. Khan has authored or co-authored over 200 original research articles, publications, or reviews. He has been an invited speaker at numerous events. Dr. Khan serves as reviewer for several journals. Co-editor of planta medica and foreign editor for J. Traditional Chinese medicine.

Dr. Khan is a fellow with the American Institute of Chemists and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, of the American Herbal Product Association in Washington D.C. He is member of expert panel of United States of Pharmacopoeia (USP) Committee. He is serving on the Advisory board of William L. Brown Center for Plant Genetic Resources, Missouri Botanical Garden. He is a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and Rho Chi, the Pharmaceutical Honor Society. Dr. Khan is also an active member of the American Chemical Society, the Society of Medicinal Plant Research, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy , where he served as Chair of the Constitution of By-laws Committee in 1998. Dr. Khan served as WHO consultant in Vietnam in 2002.

Francis Law
Toxicology and Pharmacology
Vancouver, British Columbia

Dr Law is a Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University (SFU). He also serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Medicine Journal and Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine. Dr Law is a member of the Pharmacological Society of Canada, Society of Toxicology of Canada and the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He is also a founding member of the Natural health Products Research Society of Canada and the Canadian Institute of Chinese Medicinal Research. Dr Law completed his Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Chemistry at the University of Alberta, Canada. From here he went on to complete his PhD at the College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, USA. Dr Law had held many positions during his career including a Visiting Fellowship at the Pharmacology/ Toxicology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In 1975, Dr Law was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, Canada. He was promoted to Associate Professor before relocating to SFU and founded the Environmental Toxicology Program at the Department of Biological Sciences in 1983. Dr Law has received numerous research grants and contracts from agencies, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (formerly MRC of Canada), US Food and Drug Administration and NIH to support his research studies. He has published over 150 scientific papers and presentations in areas related to pharmacokinetics, toxicology and drug metabolism. Dr Law's current research interests include pre-clinical and clinical trials of prescription drugs, TCM, biopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and natural health products.

David Lescheid
Doctor of Naturopathy
Toronto, Ontario

David W. Lescheid is currently a full time professor at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) where he teaches Microbiology and Infectious diseases as well as Physiology. At the college, he also supervises students in the clinic and is involved in the Sports Medicine Group. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a diploma in Health and fitness studies from Simon Fraser University as well as a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and protein chemistry from the University of Victoria. He also has a diploma in Naturopathic Medicine from CCNM and currently maintains a part-time private practice as a Naturopathic doctor in North York, Ontario. Although he works with many different health concerns, his primary focus is on infectious diseases and immunity. He also has special interests in men's health issues, weight management concerns and sports medicine. He has published numerous articles in Naturopathic medicine and is actively involved as an invited speaker at many different complementary and alternative medicine symposiums.

Gillian Leverkus
Herbalist, Homeopathy, Nutrition
Ladysmith, BC.

Dr. Gillian Leverkus owns and operates an Integrated Complimentary Medicine Clinic on Vancouver Island. She has been in private practice as a consultant providing herbal medicine for 30 years. Trained in England as a Medical Herbalist and later obtained her PhD in Traditional Healing.

Gillian serves on numerous Boards of Directors at a national and provincial level.
She is president of the Canadian Herbalist Association of British Columbia and chair of the Canadian Coalition of Herbal Associations.

Gillian specialized in women's health issues and teaches courses across Canada to the Medical Community and public on the "art of spirituality in healing". Gillian has been a member of the Expert Advisory Committee since November 2003.

Michael R. Lyon

Michael R. Lyon, MD is a practicing physician and an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Food, Nutrition and Health Program. He is also the Medical and Research Director for the Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine; an independent, not for profit, multidisciplinary research facility focusing upon the scientific investigation of natural health products, nutritional interventions and strategies for preventive medicine. He has conducted and organized numerous human clinical trials. He is a consultant to the natural health products industry and is involved in new product research and development and technology transfers. He serves on the International Expert Advisory Committee for the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (AFMNet).

Leonard Piché
Nutritional Scientist and Registered Dietitian
London, Ontario

Dr Piché recently accepted a Continuous Casual Academic Appointment at the rank of Full Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, UWO. He is member of 9 national organizations including the Canadian Society of Nutritional Sciences (CSNS) and the Sports Nutrition Network of Dietitians of Canada. He is/has been responsible for developing/teaching basic/advanced courses in nutrition including:

1. Nutrition for Modern Living,
2. Fundamentals of Nutrition,
3. Life Cycle Nutrition,
4. Sports Nutrition,
5. Nutritional Assessment,
6. Metabolic Aspects of Nutrition,
7. Special Topics in Nutrition and
8. Research Methods.

He was lead investigator of two national surveys:

1. elementary school feeding programs and
2. nutrition software use by hospitals > 100 beds and a Co-Principle Investigator on a survey of Family Physicians and Pediatricians.

He was/is a reviewer of:

1. NSERC & OMAFRA grant proposals
2. Brescia/UWO grant and ethics protocols,
3. articles for three peer-reviewed journals,
4. and contributor to various university nutrition and nursing texts and
5. contributor for a Medical dictionary.

Recent publications include two on use of Canada's Food Guide by the public and two 2006 books "Canadian Supplemental / Student Information (CSI) Documents" to accompany entry level Nutrition texts. Research interests include child and adult obesity and the effects of diet on blood lipid profile. He has provided feedback on >35 Health Canada consultations regarding Food & Nutrition Regulations/Proposed Policies on Food Labeling; Vit/Min Supplements; Vit/Min Fortification of Foods; Natural Health Products; Nutraceuticals/Functional Foods; Canadian Nutrient File etc. By invitation, was an advisory member of a Health Canada committee to develop a Manufacturer's Ingredient Database as part of a proposed Canadian Nutrient Data System and was/is currently a member of Dietitians of Canada's national advisory committee for the development of an on-line supplements course (Part 1 Vitamins & Minerals launched June 2004, Part 2 Herbal Supplements launched March 2006, Part 3 Sports Supplements) for Dietitians, Physicians and other Allied Health Professionals. He recently wrote a piece on Natural Health Products for the College of Dietitians of Ontario's Résumé. He is presently involved in three Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) funded grants as either a Co-Principle Investigator [jointly funded by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada], a Collaborator or a Co-Investigator. He is also a Co-PI on a Danone Institute of Canada funded project on Beverage consumption of school-aged children.

Andrew Macnab
Pediatrician
Vancouver, British Columbia

Andrew Macnab is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, Canada and works at BC's Children's and Women's Hospital in Vancouver.
He was trained in Britain as a neonatal and pediatric critical care specialist and has a research doctorate from the University of London.

He is recognized internationally as a leader in research using the technique of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) which uses photons of light to study the physiology, blood flow and oxygen delivery in the tissues at a cellular level. He has developed novel techniques with this technology that make cardiac surgery safer and allow the spinal cord and bladder to be studied in an entirely new way. Importantly NIRS can be used continuously and at the bedside; it is a non invasive technology and is painless and does not harm the tissues.

He has a reputation for interdisciplinary studies and for involving young investigators in research; in 1999 he won the St Geme award for this work from the Western Society for Pediatric Research. He has received other provincial, national and international awards for his scholarship and research, including the Canadian gold medal in 2000 for the best new medical device in Canada, and the 2002 Killam prize for lifetime achievements in education from UBC.

He initiated the "Brighter Smiles "program which is a collaborative partnership between the Tsimshian nation at Hartley Bay and the Departments of Pediatrics and Dentistry at UBC that has led to a successful school-based oral health program. This program is the first in North America to significantly reduce the incidence of caries in First Nation's children. Based on this success the community has initiated other health promotion activities. The most recent, a program to screen all their children for a tendency to type 2 diabetes and plan community based intervention, includes the study of the therapeutic role of native plants and natural health products.

He has received over 10 million dollars in competitive research grant funding, published more than 130 peer reviewed papers and is the author of the best selling textbook "Care of the Critically Ill Child".

For 2006 Dr Macnab was appointed as a distinguished scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia.

Ron Rosenes
Consumer Expert & Cross-Over Member
Toronto, ON

Ron Rosenes has been an activist and volunteer in the HIV/AIDS community in Toronto since joining AIDS ACTION NOW! in 1991. Ron was Chair of Toronto's AIDS Walk in the early 90s, then served as Board Chair of the AIDS Committee of Toronto from 1995 - 1998 and in September 1999, became ACT's first Honorary Director. Ron is a founding Board member of the Sherbourne Health Centre. Ron is an executive Board Member of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, where he chairs the committee on access to Complementary and Alternative Health Care. The Ron Rosenes Health Promotion Fund at ACT promotes access to and informed choice about complementary therapies and is a funder of the Naturopathic Clinic now housed at the Sherbourne. Ron writes articles on managing HIV using a holistic approach for such magazines as Living+ and The Positive Side.

Fereidoon Shahidi
Biochemistry
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Fereidoon Shahidi, Ph.D, FACS, FCIC, FCIST, FIAFoST, FIFT, FRSC has reached the highest academic level, university research professor, in the Department of Biochemistry at Memorial University in Newfoundland (MUN). He is also is cross-appointed to the Department of Biology, Ocean Sciences Centre, and the aquaculture program at MUN. Dr Shahidi is the author of 600 research papers and book chapters, has authored or edited some 40 books, and has given over 400 presentations at scientific conferences. His research contributions have led to several industrial developments around the globe.

Dr Shahidi's current research interests include different areas of nutraceuticals and functional foods as well as marine foods and natural antioxidants. Dr Shahidi serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Food Lipids and editor of Food Chemistry as well as an editorial board member of the Journal of Food Science; Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, Nutraceuticals and Food; and the International Journal of Food Properties. Dr Shahidi is the series editor for Nutraceutical Science and Technology books published by Taylor and Francis/CRC Press. He was the recipient of the 1996 William Eva Award from the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology in Recoginition of his outstanding contributions of food science in Canada through research and service. He also received the 1998 Earl McFee Award from the Atlantic Fisheries Technology Society in recognition of his exemplary contributions in the seafood area and their global impact.

He has been recognized as one of the most highly cited authors in the world in the discipline of agriculture, plant and animal sciences and was the recipient of the 2002 ADM Award from the American Oil Chemists' Society. Dr Shahidi was the recipient of the 2005 Stephen Chang Award from the Institute of Food Technologists. In 2006, Dr Shahidi received the Fellow award of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology and was a most highly cited (7th) and a most published (1st) in the area of food, nutrition and agricultural science for 1996-2006, as listed by ISI. He served as the chairperson of Lipid Oxidation and Quality of the American Oil Chemists' Society as well the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. Dr Shahidi was the founding member and chair of the Nutraceuticals and Functional Food Division of the Institute of Food Technologists. He has served as a co-founder and co-organizer for the International Conference and Exhibition on Nutraceuticals and Functional Food (WorldNutra) since 2000. He served as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of Health Canada on Standards of Evidence for Health Claims for Foods, the Standards Council of Canada on Fats and Oils, the Advisory Group of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on Plant Products, and the Nutraceutical Network of Canada. He served as a member of the Washington-based Council of Agricultural Science and Technology on Nutraceuticals.