Nutraceuticals World

Greg Stephens is vice president of strategic consulting with The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), Harleysville, PA. His background includes 25 years of specialized expertise in the nutritional and pharmaceutical industries. Most recently he was vice president of Nurture, Inc. Prior experience also includes a progressive series of management positions with the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories, including development of global nutrition strategies for disease-specific growth platforms and business development for Ross' medical foods portfolio, including such products as Ensure and Glucerna. He can be reached at g.stephens@nmisolutions.com.

Erik Goldman is the co-founder and editor of Holistic Primary Care-News for Health & Healing, a quarterly medical news publication reaching 80,000 primary care MDs, NDs and DOs , and covering the wide spectrum of natural healthcare. Before launching Holistic Primary Care in October 2000, he was the New York Bureau Chief for International Medical News Group, a well-established medical publishing company that produces clinical news publications for various medical specialties. He has been writing for medical audiences about clinical practice and socioeconomic trends in medicine for 20 years. He can be reached at 212-406-8957; Fax: 212-406-8959; E-mail: erik@holisticprimarycare.net; Website: www.holisticprimarycare.net.

Dr. Kalman is a Director at Miami Research Associates in the Nutrition and Endocrinology Division. Miami Research Associates is a clinical service organization involved for over 10 years in Phase II through Post Market Trials for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. Dr. Kalman is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, a Spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine (since 1999), a Spokesperson for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (2004) and on the Faculty of Healthology.com. He is an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine, American College of Nutrition, the American Dietetic Association, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. He is also the Sports Nutritionist for NIKE's Elite Distance Running Team. His undergraduate degree is from Florida State University (Food & Nutrition), Graduate degree from Hunter College (Nutrition) and earned his Doctorate at Touro University International (Health Sciences/Research). He has or is currently working with the number one selling artist in Motown history, executives from RCA Records, members of the N.Y. Yankees, members of United States Olympic Snow-Boarding team (medalist), members of the N.Y. Giants, national champion ballet dancers, various executives from CitiCorp and other Fortune 100 companies, top level Pride fighters, competitive bodybuilders and Nike sponsored distance athletes. Dr. Kalman has also provided continuing education and nutritional guidance for the Metropolitan Athletic Congress (MAC) and the USA Track and Field team (USATF). Additionally, he has contributed chapters to Nutrients as Ergogenic Aids (CRC Press 2004), Sports Supplements (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2001), The Force Program (Ballantyne Books 2001) as well as other texts.

Rhonda S. Witwer is Business Development Manager of Nutrition for National Starch Food Innovation in Bridgewater, NJ. She develops business opportunities, creates marketing messages, communicates health information and coordinates regulatory issues for Hi-maize and NOVELOSE resistant starches, health-promoting carbohydrates that are supported by more than 120 published studies. Ms. Witwer has more than a decade of experience in marketing bioactive ingredients and has written numerous articles and expert market reports on market opportunities for bioactive ingredients. A graduate of Butler University with a BS in Chemistry, she received her MBA in Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Adam Ismail was a Senior Consultant at Health Strategy Consulting and Health Business Partners, where he performed in-depth research and analysis, managing strategic consulting projects and merger and acquisition deals. Having worked on projects in four continents, Adam's global market focus provided clients international business options and solutions. Adam publishes a widely distributed daily nutrition industry newsletter on behalf of Health Strategy Consulting. Frequently published in Nutraceuticals World, Health Industry News Japan, and The Daily Deal, and speaking at numerous industry conferences, Adam is well known and well regarded for his industry expertise. Prior to this, Mr. Ismail was a financial analyst intern at First Healthcare Partners in Boston, where he performed merger and acquisition analysis. Since 1996, Adam has started and sold three businesses: a restaurant, a tour company, and a promotional products company. He lived in Japan for a year, where he worked for a division of the Sanpho Trading Company in Akishima. Adam, who is fluent in Japanese and Spanish, received a BSBA from Boston University with concentrations in Finance and Organizational Behavior and will receive his MBA from the IESE Business School in May 2004. He is an active fundraiser for charities.

Anthony L. Almada has worked within the dietary supplement industry since 1975. He performed his undergraduate training (B.Sc.) in physiology and nutritional biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine and California State University, Long Beach. He then performed his graduate (M.Sc.) research at the University of California, Berkeley, exploring the impact of exercise upon tissue antioxidant status and kinetics, including vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q and glutathione. While directing R&D at different ingredient and finished product companies he introduced vanadyl sulfate (1989) and the first thermogenic product (1991) to the market. In 1992 Anthony co-founded Experimental and Applied Sciences (EAS), now the largest sports nutrition company on a global scale. During his tenure as Chief Scientific Officer and President he developed a university research program that completed over 15 clinical studies in the first 3 years of the company s history, also yielding 2 issued patents. After selling EAS he co-founded a medical food company that developed a university clinically-validated product to prevent HIV wasting. He then created IMAGINutrition, Inc., an innovation and science marketing think tank focusing upon nutritional technologies, IP clinical research validation and science-driven media campaigns. He has collaborated on over 50 university clinical trials, ranging from AIDS/HIV and ALS to zinc metabolism in osteoarthritis. Anthony excels in intellectual property creation, novel product development, scientific validation and the transfer of technology into the marketplace.

Douglas Kalman, MS, RD, FACN, is director of clinical nutrition at Miami Research Associates (MRA), Miami, FL, in the Nutrition and Endocrinology Division. MRA is a clinical service organization involved for over 10 years in phase II through post market trials for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. Mr. Kalman is also an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine, American College of Nutrition, the American Dietetic Association, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. He is also the executive vice president and treasurer of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). He can be reached at 305-666-2368; Fax: 305-669-8966; E-mail: ; Website: www.miamiresearch.com.

James Gormley has more than 20 years of experience in health-related communications. As scientific and regulatory affairs officer for Nutrition 21 (2003-2006), he managed U.S. and global regulatory submissions to the U.S. FDA, HealthCanada, the European Food Safety Authority and South Korea. He attended pivotal Codex Alimentarius meetings in 2005. He was the longtime editor-in-chief of Better Nutrition magazine (1995-2002) and, in 2001, served as a U.S. media delegate to an international health conference in Beijing, China. He has also published five books, including the User's Guide to Natural Treatments for Lyme Disease. His blogs include: The Gormley Files.

Loren Israelsen is president of the LDI Group, a consulting firm focused exclusively on dietary supplements and phytomedicines. He heads a worldwide network of consultants and experts to assist companies in sourcing, developing and launching new products. Previously, Loren spent 10 years with Nature s Way Products, first as general counsel and later as president. While acting vice president of Strategic Development, he identified and negotiated license agreements with Efamol Ltd., Madaus AG and Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH to bring leading phytomedicines to the United States. In 1992, Loren became executive director of the Utah Natural Products Alliance, which was instrumental in development and passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994.

Paul Altaffer is on the product and business development team at RFI Ingredients, Blauvelt, NY, a manufacturer of innovative natural ingredients and custom formulations for the functional food and dietary supplement industries. He was the founder and president of Nat-Trop, an ingredients company now operated by RFI that developed and traded primarily in South American products. Every other issue, Mr. Altaffer writes a column on the product development and marketing opportunities that exist from and in the South American region. He can be reached at 415-334-7199; E-mail:paulo@rfiingredients.com

Paula Brown, Program Head of the Natural Health Product Research Group (NRG) at BCIT, directs a multi-disciplinary research facility providing fundamental investigations on product quality, safety and efficacy. In establishing NRG, Ms. Brown has created the capacity to support industry through the entire continuum, from grower to manufacturer, ensuring product integrity is maintained. An active volunteer, she is a founding member of the NHP Research Society of Canada, a non-profit group dedicated to supporting and promoting scientifically rigorous research and education on NHPs. Ms. Brown is also General Referee for the AOAC Dietary Supplements Methods Committee. She can be reached BCIT, 3700 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5G 3H2; Email: ; Website: www.bcit.ca/appliedresearch.

Alex Merolli, MBA, has 35 years of experience in the food and industrial biotechnology industries, with a career focus on research, business development and marketing of foods and functional/nutritional food ingredients. Mr. Merolli is an independent consultant specializing in strategic market assessments of emerging technologies with concentration in the dietary supplement and functional food categories. He is a founding member of Nutri+Food Business Consulting, a consortium of consultants, working at the interface of science and business. He is also a member of Consultants Association for the Natural Products Industry (CANI), another consulting network with diverse experience and skills in the food and nutrition industries. As a former member of the advisory board with Burrill & Company's Nutraceuticals Capital Fund, he helped to incubate a start up, Efficas, Inc., a nutraceutical discovery, development and marketing company. While acting Director of Business Development, he was involved with negotiating numerous deals at all levels of the nutrition value chain and fundraising with venture capital companies. Currently, Mr. Merolli is an advisory board member for LSP Bioventures, a recently formed fund focusing primarily on early and mid-stage investments in the agricultural sector, but also in opportunities in new growth areas such as bio fuels, nutrition and health and wellness.

Nancy Childs, PhD, joined the Department of Food Marketing at St. Joseph's University in 1991. Prior to her academic appointment she spent 15 years in the food industry in positions with companies such as General Mills, Quaker Oats and Campbell Soup Company. Dr. Childs is also Founding Director of the Nutraceutical Institute partnership between St. Joseph's University's Center for Food Marketing and Rutgers University.