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The Board of Trustees of the American Botanical Council
(ABC) has elected Steven Foster as its new chair. Foster, a member of the ABC
Board for 10 years, is the author of 15 herb-related
books and hundreds of magazine articles, and he is widely known for his
stunning botanical photography. The Board made its selection at a recent onsite
meeting at the ABC headquarters in Austin,
Texas. Foster succeeds former
chair Peggy Brevoort, who is remaining on the ABC Board.
“Steven Foster has made many significant contributions to
ABC, since the time of its founding 20 years ago,” said ABC Founder and
Executive Director Mark Blumenthal.
In addition to acting as the associate editor of ABC’s flagship publication HerbalGram for two decades, his articles
and photography have helped to make it one of the leading publications on herbs
in North America, and beyond. In addition,
Steven was the editor of ABC’s Classic Botanical Reprint series in its early
years, as well as the author of more than a dozen titles in ABC’s Botanical
series, which consisted of in-depth profiles on many of the most popular herbs
in the North American market. (An extensive profile on Foster was published in HerbalGram #80.)
"It's an honor to serve as the chair of the ABC Board
of Trustees, especially given the high level of experience and diverse
organizational, academic, and business expertise, represented by the Board's
members,” said Foster. “This is an exciting time for ABC, with the launch of
our new website, and recent staff additions of energetic and talented people
who can enhance service to our most important constituency—the ABC membership.
These changing and challenging times require a renewed focus in optimizing the
success of herbs in contributing to healthcare, and bringing that message to
the public, media, academia, and the greater herbal community."
The ABC Board also selected Roberta A. Lee, MD, and
Bernadette M. Marriott, PhD, to serve as new Board members. Both have extensive
experience with herbs and dietary supplements.
Dr. Lee is medical director for the Continuum
Center for Health and Healing at the Beth Israel Medical Center
in New York City.
She was among the first 3 fellows at the University of Arizona Medical School’s
Program in Integrative Medicine under the direction of the famous author and
integrative medicine expert, Andrew Weil, MD (who is also a member of the ABC
Advisory Board). Dr. Lee has been interviewed in print and on the Internet and
has appeared on the Today show, Fox
news, CBS, and CNN.
In addition to her clinical experience, Dr. Lee has also
been involved with ethnobotanical field work, particularly in the South Pacific
islands of Micronesia with
noted ethnobotanist Michael J. Balick, PhD, of the New York Botanical Garden
(also a member of the ABC Board of Trustees). Drs. Lee and Balick have
collaborated on numerous ethnobotanically-oriented articles for peer-reviewed
journals (e.g., Alternative Therapies and
Explore!). Dr. Lee is currently
developing new strategies for stress management that incorporate a unique blend
of mind/body exercises, lifestyle changes, and botanical supplements. Her book,
The SuperStress Solution, will be published by Random House in the fall
of 2009.
"It’s truly a privilege to join the ABC Board of
Trustees,” said Dr. Lee. “I am looking forward to contributing to ABC's mission
of expanding awareness of botanical medicines. There are so many new scientific
studies being released about botanical medicines, suggesting that plants can
continue to serve as a great pharmaceutical reservoir for unanticipated
diseases of the future and to provide new remedies for complex medical
syndromes."
A nutritional biochemist and psychologist, Dr. Marriott was the first director of the Office
of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health, mandated
under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. As the first
director of ODS, Dr. Marriott was responsible for surveying and collecting
information on all US federal government-funded research on dietary supplements
(vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and related substances), as well as
coordinating and stimulating future research in this area. Prior to her work at
the ODS, Dr. Marriott was deputy director of the Food and Nutrition Board at
the Institute of Medicine, where she contributed to the initial development of
the Dietary Reference Intakes for Americans.
Dr. Marriott is currently a
principal scientist with Abt Associates Inc. in Durham, North Carolina,
where she focuses on domestic health, developing an area of expertise for the
company in nutrition, diet, and chronic disease. She serves on the boards of
scientific advisors for several universities and is also an adjunct professor
at the University
of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill Department of Nutrition. Dr. Marriott has published numerous
articles in journals like the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Advances in
Experimental Medicine and Biology
as well as written chapters in books like Examining the Science Behind Nutraceuticals (Springer,
2001) and Dietary Supplements of Plant
Origin: A Nutrition and Health Approach (Taylor and Francis, 2003). “I am very honored and
enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with Mark
Blumenthal and the Board members,” said Dr. Marriott. “The
American Botanical Council has been an important educational leader in the United States
for the last two decades and was instrumental in first awakening American
scientists to the wealth of herbal research in other parts of the world. I look
forward to the chance to support the excellent activities of ABC as a member of
the Board.”
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