Heather
Boon, PhD, was named the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Dr. Rogers Prize for
Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Dr. Boon, professor and
dean of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto,
received the prize on September 25, at a special gala event in Vancouver. The
Dr. Rogers Prize “recognizes those who embody the same level of vision,
leadership, and integrity as that of the late Dr. Roger Hayward Rogers … [and]
highlights the important contributions of complementary and alternative
medicine (CAM) to health care.”1
Graduating
as a pharmacist in 1991, Dr. Boon’s interest in CAM was prompted by the
relative lack of research in the field at that time. In 1996, she completed her
doctorate, investigating the socialization of the naturopathic medicine
practice in Canada. Throughout a career spanning almost 25 years, she has
received funding for numerous research projects, supervised and taught many
students, and authored more than 150 academic publications, many of which were
focused on herbal medicine.
Established
in 2007, the Dr. Rogers Prize is awarded every two years. It is named in honor
of the late Roger Hayward Rogers, MD, one of Canada’s pioneers of complementary
and alternative medicine. The $250,000 prize is funded by the Lotte and John
Hecht Memorial Foundation. As one of its priorities, the foundation supports
work and research in CAM and has been instrumental in the development of a
robust, respectful, and collaborative CAM research community in Canada.
Dr.
Boon’s professional approach has emphasized the importance of collaboration and
respect. It has also been centered on conducting research of the highest
quality, and on building bridges and fostering dialogue between the
complementary and conventional health care communities. Furthermore, she has
helped advance core competencies for practicing pharmacists and students
through the development of pharmacy program curricula and the delivery of
continuing education courses.
In
2004, Dr. Boon, working with her colleague Marja Verhoef, PhD, from the
University of Calgary, obtained funding from the Government of Canada to create
the Canadian Interdisciplinary Network for CAM Research (IN-CAM). Building on
her work with IN-CAM and recognizing the importance of establishing an
international community, Dr. Boon was a founding member of the International
Society for Complementary Medicine Research (ISCMR), serving as president from
2013 to 2015. Dr. Boon also is one of the primary forces behind the development
of the new Centre for Integrative Medicine, a joint venture between the
University of Toronto Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Scarborough
Hospital in Scarborough, Ontario.
Dr.
Boon was appointed to Health Canada’s Expert Advisory Committee for Natural
Health Products in 2003 and served as chair from 2006 to 2009. During this
time, she played an important role in the development of Canada’s Natural Health Products Regulations. Dr.
Boon continues to play a key role in Canadian policy and regulation with her
research evaluating the impact of the Natural
Health Products Regulations, as well as the effect of CAM regulation on
practitioners.
Herbal
medicine has always played an important part in Dr. Boon’s work. In addition to
co-authoring one of the first evidence-based books on herbal medicine, The Botanical Pharmacy (Quarry Press, 1999), which was updated in 2009*, many of
her academic publications center on the use and safety of herbal medicines.
Working
with Sunita Vohra, MD, from the University of Alberta, Dr. Boon also is
involved in research on adverse events related to herbal medicines. One
project, called the “Study of Natural Health Product Adverse Events” (SONAR),
explored how active intervention by community pharmacists could help identify
potential interactions between pharmaceutical drugs and herbal medicines.2
This project was a collaboration among government, researchers, and
practitioners. In addition, Dr. Boon was part of the team that developed an
herbal medicine/drug interaction grid for health care professionals to help
them provide accurate information to their patients.
In
the 1990s and early 2000s, as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of herbal
medicines became more prevalent, investigators began to question whether the
Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) were adequate and appropriate
for herbal products. Recognizing that RCTs of herbal medicines faced
subject-specific challenges, Dr. Boon was part of the team that developed
additional checklist items specific to botanical products. These supplementary
items require descriptions of the plant part used and details on the methods of
authentication, extraction, and identification. This important work, titled
“Reporting randomized, controlled trials of herbal interventions: an elaborated
CONSORT statement,” was published in the Annals
of Internal Medicine in 2006.3
*
The author of this article is a co-author of The Botanical Pharmacy.
—Michael
Smith, BPharm (Hons), ND
References
- 2015
Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine
awarded to Dr. Heather Boon, University of Toronto [press release]. Vancouver,
BC: Dr. Rogers Prize; September 26, 2015. Available at: www.drrogersprize.org/pdf/Press%20Release%20-%202015%20Winner%20Announcment.pdf. Accessed October
14, 2015.
- Vohra
S, Cvijovic K, Boon H, et al. Study of natural health product adverse reactions
(SONAR): active surveillance of adverse events following concurrent natural
health product and prescription drug use in community pharmacies. PLOS ONE. 2012;7(9):e45196. Available
at: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3461007/pdf/pone.0045196.pdf. Accessed October
7, 2015.
-
Gagnier JJ, Boon H, Rochon P, et al. Reporting
randomized, controlled trials of herbal interventions: an elaborated CONSORT
statement. Ann Intern Med.
2006;144(5):364-367.
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