NHRI Managing Board
The managing board handles the financial, legal, and business aspects of the NHRI. The directors listed below have the usual responsibilities associated with their titles.
Michael Lelah, Ph.D., President
Michael Lelah, Ph.D. is Technical Director at NOW Foods, in Bloomingdale, Illinois. NOW Foods is a manufacturer and distributor of natural dietary supplements and foods. He is responsible for External Affairs, R&D, Quality, Science, Regulatory and Nutrition Services. Michael is a strong supporter of science in our industry and is committed to addressing the twin incorrect views – supplements don’t work and supplements aren’t safe. Michael has a PhD in Chemical Engineering and has worked in the food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and plastics industries variously as a scientific researcher, responsible for R&D, Quality and Scientific Affairs. You can reach Michael at michael.lelah@nowfoods.com.
Ronald Ross Watson, Ph.D., Technical Director
Dr. Watson is the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board and Technical Director of the Managing Board. He has edited 60 books, mostly in nutrition and food sciences. He presently directs or has directed several NIH funded biomedical grants relating to immune function and cardiovascular effects. Dr. Watson was Director of a National Institutes of Health funded Alcohol Research Center for five years, whose goal was to understand the role of alcohol-induced immunosuppression and disease resistance in animals. He is an internationally recognized Complementary and Alternative Medical researcher, nutritionist and immunologist. Dr. Watson also initiated and directed other NIH-associated work at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He is a professor at the College of Public Health. He completed his Ph.D. degree in 1971 in Biochemistry from Michigan State University. His postdoctoral schooling was completed at the Harvard School of Public Health in Nutrition and Microbiology, including a two-year postdoctoral research experience in immunology. Professor Watson is a distinguished member of several national and international nutrition, immunology, and cancer societies, having published 450 research papers and reviews. He has a patent pending for a dietary supplement and has worked extensively for decades on the role of nutrient supplements in immune regulation, recently studying Pycnogenol in heart disease therapy. He is the panel manager of the research team reviewing grants in active nutritional elements in foods, for the USDA.
James S. Turner, Chairman
James S. Turner is a principal in the Washington, D.C. law firm, Swankin & Turner, which represents businesses, individuals, and consumer groups in a wide variety of regulatory matters concerning food, drug, health, environmental and product-safety matters. He has appeared before every major consumer regulatory agency, including the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Federal Trade Commission, as well as the Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health. He has served as Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Food, Nutrition, and Health, and to the U.S. Senate Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Research. Author of the classic book, The Chemical Feast, he has also been a policy consultant to major corporations in the food, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries, including Kraft Foods, The Quaker Oats Company, Hoffmann-LaRoche, and AT&T. He was the lead attorney on a successful petition to the FDA to reclassify acupuncture needles, thereby permitting their legal importation and distribution. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University School of Law.
James J. Gormley, Secretary
An award-winning journalist, author, and member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Gormley has 20 years of experience in health-related media communications. He is a senior policy advisor for Citizens for Health and a member of the Institute of Food Technologists. From 2006 to 2008, Gormley directed three leading health-food trade magazines. He served as the editor-in-chief of Better Nutrition magazine (1995 to 2002) and served as a scientific and regulatory affairs officer for Nutrition 21 (2003 to 2006). A consumer health advocate and industry champion, Gormley has also been a frequent guest on television and national radio. k/r