2015 Health Concerns Symposium: Tools for Your Practice - Guest Speakers
Andrew Gaeddert, RH
President and Founder, Health Concerns
Andrew Gaeddert began his studies with master herbalists from both the United States and China. He is founder and president of Health Concerns, the first company in America to produce traditional Chinese formulas for professionals. In addition to being an internationally recognized authority on herbal medicine, Mr. Gaeddert is a lecturer and the author of numerous books. He has contributed research and articles to publications such as Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Acupuncture Today, Oriental Medicine, ASNY Journal and Meridian Times.
Since 1992, Andrew has been involved in researching the effects of herbs on gastrointestinal and immune disorders. He has worked with the University of California, the University of Zurich, and NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Mr. Gaeddert assisted in the development of a double-blind clinical trial with HIV patients, a study that marked the first time an herbal formula was thoroughly evaluated in the U.S. He served on the protocol team of a study to investigate the effects of Chinese herbs on chronic diarrhea, as well as an anemia study sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Alternative Medicine. He was also regional coordinator for Citizens for Health, which was instrumental in the passage of DSHEA and saving Chinese herbs from extinction in the United States. In his professional practice, he has helped thousands of practitioners help their patients through the Herbal Helpline®. The Herbal Helpline® is a resource for practitioners to present their questions about herbs and patient treatment.
Kenneth Fine, MD
Founder and Director of Operations and Medical Research, Intestinal Health Institute
Founder and Medical Director, EnteroLab Reference Laboratory
Dr. Kenneth Fine is an academic medical doctor, board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, and internationally recognized for his nutritional research and scientific publications (intestinalhealth.org/CV). He has been professionally involved in patient care, medical research, teaching, directing clinical laboratories, nutritional pioneering, and public health for over 25 years. Having been a professor his entire working life, in the year 2000, he converted his successful academic medical career into a public service enterprise to foster his professional passions for teaching and helping people. It was then that he founded, and he still directs EnteroLab.com clinical reference laboratory and the non-profit Intestinal Health Institute in Dallas, Texas (www.intestinalhealth.org), where he has furthered his ground-breaking research and offers diagnostic laboratory tests for intestinal disorders, and gluten and other food sensitivities.
Mark Frost
Faculty Council President, ACTCM Board of Directors
Mark Frost has been a licensed acupuncturist in the state of California for nearly 25 years. Beginning his undergraduate work in agriculture, engineering and biological sciences at UC Santa Barbara and California Polytechnic State University, he later went on to receive a Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine where he now is a professor. Mark has been published and has presented on a wide range of subjects and his career has taken special emphasis on areas such as TCM approaches to HIV and hepatitis, acupuncture treatment of emotional and psychological disorders, internal medicine using TCM, the treatment of digestive disorders and musculo-skeletal disorders of the back and extremities.
Mark is currently the Faculty Council President and Faculty Representative on the ACTCM Board of Directors where he has also serviced as the Chair of the Department of Complimentary and Energetic Medicine. He has maintained a private practice in the bay area since 1990.
Esther Gokhale, L.Ac
Creator of the Gokhale Method
As the creator of www.GokhaleMethod.com, Esther Gokhale's mission is to provide posture and movement re-education to help people eradicate unnecessary pain and live their best lives. After experiencing crippling back pain during her first pregnancy and unsuccessful back surgery, Gokhale began her lifelong crusade to vanquish back pain. Her studies at the Aplomb Institute in Paris and years of research in non-industrial cultures led her to develop the Gokhale Method®, a unique, systematic approach to help people find their way back to pain-free living. The Gokhale Method continues to grow as qualified Gokhale Method teachers now teach her method worldwide.
Gokhale's book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, has been an Amazon best-seller and has been translated into eight languages. In 2010, Gokhale hosted the nationally televised program Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution (available on DVD). Her method has been featured in many publications including The New York Times in May 2013 where she was given the title, “The Posture Guru of Silicon Valley”.
Roy Upton
Executive Director, American Herbal Pharmacopoeia
Roy Upton, RH, DAyu is the founder, executive director, and editor of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP). Roy is also co-founder and past president, of the American Herbalists Guild (AHG), and serves on botanical expert advisory committees of AOAC International, the American Botanical Council, NSF International, and the Lloyd Library and Museum.
Roy has been working and practicing professionally as an herbalist since 1981. He is trained in Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese, and Western herbal medicine and has also studied and worked extensively with Native American and Caribbean ethnobotanical traditions. As an integral part of his work as an herbalist, Roy spends a great deal of time defending the rights of people to access herbal medicines and to see herbal medicine integrated into the fabric of both our homes and health care systems.
In addition, Roy is the staff herbalist for the California-based herbal supplements company, Planetary Herbals, is a member of the Standards Committee of the American Herbal Products Association, and is an internationally recognized lecturer and author of numerous popular and peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Dr. Richard Kitaeff, MA, ND, DipAC, L.Ac.
Founder and Director of New Health Medical Center
Dr. Kitaeff, naturopathic physician and acupuncturists, was the first Westerner to graduate from Meiji University of Oriental Medicine in Osaka, Japan. He interned at the Osaka Medical College Pain Clinic and the Kyoto Pain Control Institute. Richard Kitaeff’s research on acupuncture and endorphins has been carried out at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Published in the journal Pain. He has been treating patients for pain through acupuncture for more than 40 years.