About Us
NHRI History
The starting point of the NHRI was a talk by Bruce Holub, PhD, at the May 2002 American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) Symposium in Montreal. Dr. Holub presented his work on omega-3 for heart health. He stated emphatically that enough research had already been done. He took Health Canada to task for not endorsing the use of omega-3 products for heart health, as the American Heart Assoc. had already done, and that this failure was costing 100,000 lives per year.
After the talk, Elwood Richard of Now Foods met with Dr. Holub to see if an organization could be formed to publicize the life saving potential of this type of research. Dr. Holub was initially willing to become the Technical Director of this organization. He met with James Turner of Citizens for Health (CFH), a health freedom advocacy group, and the NOW Foods Advocacy Team to develop this organization. Soon after, Jim Turner and Ana Micka, also of CFH, were contacted to see if CFH could help begin this new organization.
The new organization was formed as a non-profit division of CFH, called the Citizens for Health Education Foundation. The inital goal was to reduce the ten leading causes of death by cost effective natural means. Several years later this was changed to reducing healthcare costs by natural means. James Turner, the first Chairman of the Board, obtained tax exempt status on Dec. 18, 2002.
The role of technical director involved considerable administrative duties, so Bruce Holub decided to continue his work as a researcher rather than be administrator. He continued his research and made presentations at two of the NHRI seminars. Later he founded the DHA/EPA Omega-3 Institute (read more) and is currently active in that organization.
Ronald Ross Watson, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona became the Technical Director and Board Member in 2003 and has been active to the present. Dr. Watson reviews the articles for posting on the NHRI website and has edited a series of books (read more) with chapters written by leading experts on various aspects of natural health. He is also in charge of the Scientific Advisory Board of the NHRI.
The NHRI began technical conferences in conjunction with the AOCS, assisted in this by Richard Cantril, Ph.D., technical director of the AOCS, and has held technical conferences since 2004. A program for providing research grants to students in natural health thru the AOCS was begun in 2003. Read the information on some of the presentations at the conferences.
The original Managing Board consisted of Jim Turner, Ana Micka, and Jim Roza of NOW Foods. Jim Roza resigned in 2005 and was replaced by Elwood Richard of NOW Foods. In July 2008, Elwood resigned and was replaced by Michael Lelah, Ph.D., of NOW Foods. Michael was instrumental in establishing the NHRI as a separate 501 c 3 non-profit on Dec. 3, 2008, with the name of Natural Health Research Institute. Michael became President of the Managing Board in January of 2009. Rick Sharpee, Ph.D., joined the board in 2012.
In the fall of 2009, the Scientific Advisory Board was formed with Dr. Watson as the Head. This distinguished body includes researchers that have totalled over 3,000 peer-reviewed publications on natural health (read more).
Support NHRI
The Natural Health Research Institute is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Help support us by making checks payable to the Natural Health Research Institute and mail them to:
- Treasurer, Natural Health Research Institute
- 244 Knollwood Drive
- Bloomingdale, IL 60108
If you wish to receive a receipt, please email your request to NHRI Treasurer Elwood Richard at info@naturalhealthresearch.org or fax him at 630-790-9012.