Issue:
117
Page: 22-24
American Botanical Council Welcomes Three New Board of Trustees Members
HerbalGram.
2018; American Botanical Council
In December 2017, the American Botanical Council
(ABC) announced the election of three new members to its Board of Trustees:
Bethany Davis; Richard Kingston, PharmD; and Holly Shimizu. The new trustees
bring decades of combined experience in a diverse range of fields related to
medicinal plants. Davis, Kingston, and Shimizu are recognized leaders in
dietary supplement industry regulation and environmental sustainability practices;
clinical toxicology, botanical safety, and pharmacy; and public horticulture
and herbal education, respectively.
“ABC is delighted to welcome Bethany, Holly, and Rick to
our Board of Trustees,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark
Blumenthal. “Each of these new board members has numerous skills and strengths
that will help ABC achieve new successes in the fields of medicinal plant
education and research. Now that ABC is in its 30th year, and as ABC determines
its future growth and direction, these new trustees will help empower the board
and ABC to fulfill its unique nonprofit educational mission, publications, and
programs.”
The addition of these three experts brings the total
number of ABC Board of Trustees members to 11. In April 2017, longtime ABC
trustee Fredi Kronenberg, PhD, a champion of integrative medicine for women’s
health, died after a long illness. The decision to expand the board was made
unanimously at the annual Board of Trustees meeting at ABC’s headquarters in
November 2017. More information about the eight other board members can be
found on ABC’s website.
Bethany
Davis
Since 2011, Davis has worked for FoodState, a whole-food
supplements company based in Manchester, New Hampshire, which owns two
well-known supplement brands: MegaFood and INNATE Response Formulas. Currently,
she is the company’s director of regulatory and industry affairs.
“I am so honored to be serving on the ABC Board of
Trustees,” Davis said. “ABC’s legacy and authority is widely known around the
world. I am excited to participate on the ABC board and serve the global herbal
community.”
Before joining FoodState, Davis worked as the chain
pharmacy account manager for Adheris Health, a provider of direct-to-patient
medication adherence programs, and as the owner-operator of Davis Health
Consulting, a regulatory consulting firm. She has a master’s degree in
regulatory affairs and health policy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
and Health Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts.
Davis’s passion for health care, coupled with her
experience in the pharmaceutical industry and background in health policy and
regulation, eventually led her to the natural products industry. “Through
earning my Master of Science in regulatory affairs and health policy, the grave
state of health care in the United States was made clear to me,” she said. “The
value of traditional herbal therapies and the potential for positive impact on
human health through dietary supplementation is of the utmost importance.”
Davis is actively involved in promoting sustainability,
transparency, and non-genetically modified organism (GMO) issues related to the
natural products industry.
“I have dedicated my professional life to growing the
dietary supplement industry, bringing together educators, experts, and
collaborators of all types in order to serve the public health,” she said. “As
a mother and a birth worker, and as a strong, lifelong advocate of personal
empowerment, ABC’s mission of bringing forth science-based education to promote
the responsible use of herbal medicine resonates strongly. Everyone should be
able to use herbs safely and with proper knowledge and access to take control
of their health. A noble cause, and one I aim to serve wholeheartedly.”
In addition to her current position with FoodState,
Davis is the president of the Coalition for Supplement Sustainability, a group
of supplement and ingredient companies dedicated to promoting non-GMO and
sustainable supply chains. She is also a voting board member of the
Massachusetts General Hospital Partners Institutional Review Board and a member
of the American Herbal Products Association’s Board of Trustees.
Richard
Kingston, PharmD
Kingston is the co-founder and president of regulatory
and scientific affairs at SafetyCall International, a company that specializes
in adverse event management and regulatory compliance services, where he has
worked since 2004. He is also a longtime faculty member at the University of
Minnesota (UM), where he has worked for more than 35 years and currently is a
clinical professor of pharmacy. At UM, he is the course director for
“Therapeutics of Herbs and Other Natural Medicinals,” which is taught in the
College of Pharmacy and available to all students in the Academic Health
Center. In addition, Kingston has been
an adjunct professor at the National Center for Natural Products Research
(NCNPR), an FDA Center of Excellence at the University of Mississippi College
of Pharmacy, since 2014.
“I’m honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve
on the ABC Board of Trustees,” said Kingston, who has been on the ABC Advisory
Board since 2002. “ABC has an exemplary reputation for its work in providing
all stakeholders with science-based information to promote the safe and
responsible use of herbs and medicinal plants.
“I’m particularly interested in helping ABC further its
efforts with the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program, and I commend ABC
for taking a leadership role in bringing the global herb industry together to
address this critical issue,” Kingston continued. “The integrity of the
botanical supply chain ensures the safety of consumers, and that remains an
important part of my efforts and focus in my work. In my new capacity as a
member of the distinguished ABC Board of Trustees, I look forward to
contributing to a number of areas related to botanical safety, while also being
committed to the organization’s overall future success.”
Kingston received his doctor of pharmacy degree from the
University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. He completed his postdoctoral
fellowship in clinical toxicology and pharmacokinetics in the Section of
Clinical Pharmacology and the Clinical Toxicology Treatment Program at the
University of Minnesota-affiliated level 1 trauma center, St. Paul-Ramsey
Medical Center. After his postdoctoral training, he was the co-founder and
managing director of the Minnesota Poison Control system and the Minnesota
Regional Poison Center. He has also served as a faculty member for the Graduate
Minor Program in Complementary Therapies and Healing Practices at the Center
for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota Academic Health
Center.
Kingston is a member of numerous professional
organizations, including the American Association of Poison Control Centers,
the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, the Household and Commercial
Products Association, and the Society of Toxicology, among others.
Throughout his career, Kingston has given more than 200
lectures and presentations, and has authored or co-authored more than two dozen
articles in various publications and scientific journals, including the Annals
of Internal Medicine, American Journal of
Pharmaceutical Education, and Veterinary and
Human Toxicology. He has also contributed to five textbooks,
including serving as a co-editor of Herbal Products:
Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology (Humana Press, 2007) and as
the author of a chapter on herbal, traditional, and alternative medicines in Clinical
Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose, 4th edition (Elsevier
Press, 2007).
Holly
Shimizu
Shimizu has held numerous leadership positions in the
fields of public horticulture, herbal education, and plant conservation. From
2000 to 2014, she served as the executive director of the United States Botanic
Garden (USBG), one of the oldest botanical gardens in the United States, which
is located on the National Mall in front of the US Capitol Building in
Washington, DC.
“Becoming
actively involved with the American Botanical Council as a member of the Board
of Trustees is very exciting to me because the work of ABC is so important,”
said Shimizu, who has served on the ABC Advisory Board since 2006. “So many of
us count on this work as our trusted, reliable source for information that is
current and scientifically accurate.”
During
her time as executive director of the USBG, Shimizu led the effort for the
garden to become a founding partner of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, which
is considered one of the most comprehensive certification systems for
sustainable land management and development. Before becoming executive
director, Shimizu was the USBG’s assistant executive director and public
programs manager.
Shimizu
has also served as an advisor for the White House gardens and played a role in
redesigning the Rose Garden in 1983. She also worked with former first lady
Laura Bush on a long-term botanical research and identification project for
Camp David.
Most
recently, Shimizu was the interim executive director of the American
Horticultural Society in Alexandria, Virginia. She has also served as the
managing director of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia,
and was the first curator of the National Herb Garden at the US National
Arboretum in Washington, DC. Shimizu received a master’s degree in horticulture
from the University of Maryland.
“In
my work with plants over the years, I have focused on the importance of plants
to our health and well-being, their chemistry, complexity, beauty, and
conservation,” Shimizu said. “For plants to receive their rightful place in our
universe, we need to encourage people to respect the extraordinary role plants
play in human and animal lives, as well as in the natural world. I have always
been driven to find various ways for people to grasp a greater understanding of
plants, to actually ‘see’ them, and to integrate them into American culture.”
Shimizu
is currently on the board of directors of numerous organizations, including the
American Horticultural Society and Friends of the National Arboretum, and is on
the advisory boards of the Southern Delaware Botanic Gardens and the Las Cruces
Biological Station/Wilson Botanical Garden in Costa Rica, which is part of the
nonprofit Organization for Tropical Studies. Previously, she served on the
boards of the American Public Gardens Association and Botanic Gardens Conservation
International, as the chair of botany and horticulture for the Herb Society of
America, and on the advisory council for Longwood Gardens.
“Exploring
the plants around us, learning about their uses, their value in various
cultures, is an expansive and never-ending pursuit,” Shimizu added. “ABC helps
us to unravel some of the plant mysteries, while also providing much-needed
practical information on botanical adulterants and product quality, and
dependable sources for materials and further information. I am delighted to be
a part of these efforts in working with the American Botanical Council.”
Throughout
her career, Shimizu has received many recognitions and honors, including an
honorary doctorate from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, the Thomas
Roland Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Horticultural Education from the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Professional Award for an Outstanding
Public Garden Director from the American Horticultural Society, and the Nancy
Putnam Howard Award from the Herb Society of America.
Shimizu
has contributed articles to a variety of publications, including The
New York Times, Horticulture,
and Fine Gardening, among others. Most
recently, she co-authored a chapter in Living in the
Anthropocene: Earth in the Age of Humans (Smithsonian Institution,
2017).
—ABC
Staff
|