THE INSTITUTE FOR FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE APPOINTS LOREN ISRAELSEN TO GOVERNING BOARD OF DIRECTORS9/11/2020
Federal Way, Wash, September 11, 2020 -- The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) has named three new members to its Governing Board of Directors: Gail Christopher, DN, David Harris, and Loren Israelsen. These new members are renowned leaders and experts in the fields of health equity, policy, philanthropy, wellness medicine, and human performance. The election of these new board members represents critical steps towards achieving the advancement of functional medicine for all.
“The IFM Board of Directors is honored and delighted to welcome such accomplished community leaders to help advance our mission of health and healing for all,” states Board Chairman, Joseph E. Pizzorno, ND. “All three individuals bring strong commitment, substantial skills and important experience and insights into the health disparity issues that are top priorities for us at IFM.” Dr. Gail Christopher has more than 30 years of experience in designing and managing national initiatives and nonprofit organizations, and is an award-winning social change agent with expertise in the social determinants of health and well-being and in related public policies. Formally, she was the Senior Advisor and VP at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and now chairs the Board of the Trust for America’s Health. She is also currently the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity. In her role at WKKF, she was the driving force behind the America Healing initiative and the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation effort. David Harris has designed custom leadership development programs for a variety of organizations. He is currently Chief Officer of Innovation and Human Performance for Formelife, and an Optimist for Simon Sinek, Inc. Prior to this, David had a successful 25-year career at Equinox, the leader in Lifestyle Wellness, before taking on a broader role as VP of Health and Human Performance. He was also the Chairman of the Equinox Health Advisory Board. Loren Israelsen has 40 years of experience in addressing the commercial, political and regulatory issues facing the global dietary supplement industry. He served as General Counsel and President of Nature’s Way Products Inc., and is now the President of the United Natural Products Alliance. Much of his career has involved creating and supporting efforts to allow broad access to dietary supplements and to assure product quality, safety and benefit. “The depth and breadth of leadership and experience held by each of these individuals will be invaluable in guiding us into our next phase of strategic planning and development,” says Amy R. Mack, CEO of IFM. “In addition, it is critical to our work at IFM, as well as to the advancement of functional medicine, that the communities we wish to serve have representation on our board in the form of lived experience.” The 2020 officers of the IFM’s BOD include Joseph E. Pizzorno, ND (Board Chairman), Terry Cook, CFP, CIMA (Treasurer), and David S. Jones, MD (Secretary). To view all the members of IFM’s Board of Directors, please click here. ### About the United Natural Products Alliance The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) is an international association representing nearly 120 leading natural products, dietary supplement, functional food and scientific and technology and related service companies that share a commitment to provide consumers with natural health products of superior quality, benefit, reliability and sustainability. Founded in 1992 in Utah—widely regarded as the epicenter of dietary supplement manufacturing in the United States—UNPA was instrumental in the passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and continues to take a leadership position in state and federal regulatory issues and industry best practices. For more information, visit www.unpa.com. About IFM The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is the global leader in Functional Medicine and a collaborator in the transformation of health care. IFM is a nonprofit organization that believes Functional Medicine can help every individual reach their full potential for health and well-being. Founded in 1991 and dedicated to the widespread adoption of Functional Medicine, IFM works to advance education and training, clinical patient care, research, and outcomes in Functional Medicine worldwide. To date, IFM has educated over 16,000 practitioners from 70 countries. For more information about IFM, please visit IFM.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Clint Calder, Director of Marketing, 646.992.1803, clint@unpa.com. SOURCE: The Institute for Functional Medicine , www.ifm.org.  NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: AHPA: Haley Chitty (hchitty@ahpa.org / 301-588-1171 x104) CHPA: Lauren Bloomberg (lbloomberg@chpa.org / 202-429-3534) CRN: Holly Vogtman (hvogtman@crnusa.org / 202-204-7665) UNPA: Clint Calder (clint@unpa.com / 646-992-1803) Supplement and Hemp Industry Associations Applaud Bipartisan Legislation to Regulate Hemp-Derived CBD (WASHINGTON, D.C., September 8, 2020) – Today, the four leading dietary supplement industry associations applaud Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA), for introducing bipartisan legislation that would protect public health by providing legal clarity in the cannabidiol (CBD) product marketplace. The Hemp and Hemp derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 (H.R. 8179) directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use its authority and resources to set a clear regulatory framework for hemp and hemp derived CBD and assure consumer protection. A growing number of Americans view hemp and hemp derived CBD as a way to improve health and wellbeing, driving high consumer demand and a proliferation of CBD-containing products on the marketplace. While the 2018 Farm Bill changed the law to allow hemp farming, regulatory uncertainty remains about the inclusion of hemp and hemp derived CBD in dietary supplements. This lack of regulatory clarity along with insufficient oversight around hemp and hemp derived CBD exposes consumers to potentially unsafe products and lack of consistency in product quality. Recognizing the urgent need to address confusion around the legal status of hemp and hemp derived CBD, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), and United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) have been calling on Congress to provide FDA statutory authority and additional resources to regulate hemp and hemp derived CBD as a dietary supplement. Today’s legislation would allow hemp and hemp derived CBD to be legally marketed in dietary supplements so long as manufacturers comply with new dietary ingredient requirements and other Food and Drug Act dietary supplement policies. This pathway for hemp and hemp derived CBD products to be legally marketed, would put in place necessary safeguards to protect public health. A legal hemp and hemp derived CBD pathway would also provide much needed certainty to hemp farmers. The dietary supplement industry is proud to support the Hemp and Hemp derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 and we urge Congress to consider including the bill in a legislative vehicle soon. AHPA, CHPA, CRN, UNPA, along with the Hemp Roundtable, sent lawmakers a letter expressing unified support for the legislation. ### The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is the national trade association and voice of the herbal and botanical products industry. AHPA is comprised of more than 300 domestic and foreign companies doing business as growers, processors, manufacturers, and marketers of herbs and herbal products, including foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and non-prescription drugs. Founded in 1982, AHPA's mission is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products. Website: www.ahpa.org. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) founded in 1881, is the national trade association representing the leading manufacturers and marketers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, dietary supplements and consumer medical devices. Every dollar spent by consumers on OTC medicines saves the U.S. healthcare system more than $7, contributing a total of $146 billion in savings each year. CHPA is committed to empowering consumer self-care by preserving and expanding choice and availability of consumer healthcare products. Visit www.chpa.org. The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 180+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Visit www.crnusa.org. Follow us on Twitter @CRN_Supplements and LinkedIn. The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) is an international trade association representing nearly 120 leading natural products, dietary supplement, functional food, scientific and technology and related service companies that share a commitment to provide consumers with natural health products of superior quality, benefit and reliability. Founded in Utah in 1992, UNPA was instrumental in the passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and continues to take a leadership position in legislative and regulatory issues and industry best practices. Visit www.unpa.com. Follow us on twitter @UNPANational and LinkedIn. 
Dietary Supplement Regulatory Summit
September 16, 2020 (July 8, 2020) — The 2020 Dietary Supplements Regulatory Summit, originally set for May 27, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 16, to be held virtually. All existing registrations and pricing will be honored. “The five trade associations hosting the summit look forward to connecting with all of our colleagues in September. Our first concern continues to be the safety and wellbeing of everyone, including their families and team members. We ask for the industry’s continued understanding and patience as we work to move this meeting to a virtual platform,” said Kira Olsen, director of member services and events for the United Natural Products Alliance, the host organization of this year’s summit. With the new date, registration has been reopened for the annual summit. Now in its fifth year, the summit is a one-day, executive-level conference and networking event.  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Frank Lampe, frank@unpa.com, 720.398.8172 Adverse event reporting tells the story of dietary supplement safety WASHINGTON (March 3, 2020) — At the initial Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus briefing of 2020, held last week, Dr. Richard Kingston, president, regulatory and scientific affairs and co-founder of SafetyCall International, educated congressional staffers on the types of evidence used to monitor dietary supplement safety, including adverse event reports, emergency room visits and poison control center data. Dr. Kingston is an expert on clinical toxicology and pharmacology, poison control, product post-market surveillance and drug and dietary supplement safety. Emphasizing that media headlines citing safety data on dietary supplements often lack the proper context and overstate potential risk to consumers, Dr. Kingston noted that whether through the development of consumer education campaigns or advocating for increased resources for FDA to enforce the law, the dietary supplement industry has exhibited a commitment to maintaining a safe marketplace, as the majority of Americans take dietary supplements each year. WASHINGTON (Feb. 11, 2020) — The U.S. dietary supplement industry is aware of the growing concern regarding the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and of the public’s desire to protect itself against the virus.
The four leading trade associations representing the dietary supplement industry support the responsible sale and use of vitamins, minerals, herbs and other dietary supplements that provide many positive benefits promoting better health and wellness. However, we are concerned that some marketers of dietary supplements or other products may be promoting them with claims of prevention or treatment of coronavirus. While research supports the use of certain dietary supplements to maintain immune system health, we are not aware of clinical research that demonstrates using a dietary supplement specifically to prevent or to treat the novel coronavirus. Even if research is conducted and published on the topic, the law that regulates dietary supplements, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, prohibits marketers of dietary supplements in the United States from promoting any dietary supplement product that makes disease prevention or treatment claims. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS:
AHPA: Haley Chitty, hchitty@ahpa.org, 301.588.1171 x104 CHPA: Lauren Bloomberg, Lbloomberg@chpa.org, 202.429.3534 CRN: Holly Vogtman, hvogtman@crnusa.org, 202.204.7665 UNPA: Frank Lampe, frank@unpa.com, 801.474.2572 x1 Registration now open for the fifth annual Dietary Supplements Regulatory Summit in Washington, D.C., May 27 WASHINGTON (Jan. 9, 2020) — Registration is now open for the annual Dietary Supplements Regulatory Summit (DSRS), taking place Wednesday, May 27, at the historic Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Now in its fifth year, the summit is an intimate, one-day, executive-level conference and networking event in the heart of the nation’s capital.  MEDIA RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY (Oct. 17, 2019) — The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), an international association of forward-looking companies dedicated to providing consumers with natural health products of superior quality, benefit and reliability, is pleased to announce the Executive-level membership of Mile High Labs into the alliance.
Mile High Labs is the first company admitted into UNPA under the organization's new hemp extract/cannabinoids member policy guidelines. UNPA now serves nearly 120 best-in-class companies from around the world.  MEDIA RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY (Oct. 16, 2019) — The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) today announced a new policy that for the first time allows companies engaged in the growing, manufacture, sale and/or distribution of hemp extract/cannabinoids* ingredients and finished goods labeled as dietary supplements, food, beverages, and cosmetic products to become Executive members of the 27-year-old alliance.
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Frank Lampe, frank@unpa.com, 720.398.8172 AHPA, CHPA, CRN and UNPA join forces to advocate for consumer safety and access, industry growth and innovation
WASHINGTON (October 9, 2019) —This week, the four leading trade associations representing the U.S. dietary supplement industry joined forces to urge Congress to take action to ensure consumer safety and provide legal clarity in the cannabidiol (CBD) product marketplace. In a letter, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), and United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) called on Congress “to pass legislation to clarify that CBD derived from the hemp plant is a lawful dietary ingredient if the dietary supplement containing the CBD meets established product safety and quality criteria.”  MEDIA RELEASE Nutrabolt, Taane Co., Trace Minerals and Uckele Health & Nutrition are joined by two new Science & Technology Services members and seven new Associate members
SALT LAKE CITY (Oct. 9, 2019) — The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), an international association of forward-looking companies dedicated to providing consumers with natural health products of superior quality, benefit and reliability, is pleased to announce the membership of 13 companies into the alliance. UNPA now serves nearly 120 best-in-class companies from around the world. |