Advisors

In her most recent position as Health, Beauty, and Environmental Sciences Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, Birnur and her team of scientists evaluate products designed to meet health and beauty needs of consumers. Their product tests and investigations have ranged from anti-aging serums to gel manicures, from hair salon keratin treatments to efficacy of water purifiers in taking out emerging contaminants, and more. Launched in 2010, her group’s testing is behind the success of Good Housekeeping Magazine’s yearly Beauty Awards.

Birnur has worked with Brown & Wilmanns Environmental consulting firm to set the criteria for the Green Good Housekeeping Seal in the beauty product category. To this end, she also collaborated with an external advisory committee composed of industry experts, academia, trade associations, and non-governmental organizations. She is currently a part-time student in the Sustainability Management Program at Columbia University and hopes to make a difference in channeling consumer and industry behavior towards becoming more sustainable. You can follow Birnur as @beautyscience on Instagram and @BAbeautyscience on Twitter.

He holds numerous academic and public awards. He has published over 200 articles and is the lead inventor on many patents. He is the lead developer and inventor of TAML and NewTAML activators, small-molecule, functional replicas of the peroxidase enzymes that mimic and outperform the enzymes to transform the field of bioinspired oxidation catalysis. The Collins iterative design protocol allows health, environmental and fairness performances to participate at design decision-gate stature, while advancing technical and cost performances in pursuit of sustainable chemistry. NewTAMLs enable a broad new field of catalysis science that is mated to water treatment science called, “Sustainable Ultra-dilute Oxidation Catalysis” (SUDOC).

Prof. Collins taught the first course in Green Chemistry and has been developing it iteratively since 1992. He sees three existential threats to humanity coming today from the chemical and allied enterprises: the increasing carbonization of the economy, nuclear mishap or misadventure, and the low dose adverse effects of everyday-everywhere chemicals. The IGS is focused primarily on developing solutions for the last fast-acting threat.

She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical journals and speaks nationally and internationally on environmental medicine, epigenetics, toxicants in personal care products and other topics. She currently serves as Director of Education on the board of directors of the Naturopathic Academy of Environmental Medicine (NAEM).

Dr. Fine is also the Founder & C.E.O. of Fine Natural Products, LLC, a company dedicated to formulating non-toxic skin care products and educational information designed to create a healthier world for all.

Dr. Fine graduated with high honors and obtained her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Notre Dame, she enjoyed a successful career as an executive in corporate finance before making the radical discovery that natural medicine solved her health issues. Feeling this was way more powerful than mere number crunching, she left her job to pursue a higher calling.

Jeff has spearheaded numerous chemicals policy market campaigns, co-authored multiple peer-reviewed articles on toxics in consumer products, and pioneered citizen science in the use of x-ray fluorescence technology for toxics testing in products. He likes to create and build things, and it is this compulsion that drives him to develop campaigns that gather and present new knowledge so the world will have better products and an improved environment.

Jeff is assisted by numerous student interns to achieve the work of the HealthyStuff.org program, providing critical exposure for young people to cutting edge technology for chemical testing.

Dr. Hyman is a practicing family physician, an eight-time #1 New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in his field. He is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center, chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a medical editor of The Huffington Post, and has been a regular medical contributor on many television shows including CBS This Morning, the Today Show, CNN, The View, the Katie Couric show and The Dr. Oz Show.

Dr. Hyman works with individuals and organizations, as well as policy makers and influencers. He has testified before both the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Senate Working Group on Health Care Reform on Functional Medicine. He has consulted with the Surgeon General on diabetes prevention, and participated in the 2009 White House Forum on Prevention and Wellness. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa nominated Dr. Hyman for the President’s Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. In addition, Dr. Hyman has worked with President Clinton, presenting at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters – Achieving Wellness in Every Generation conference and the Clinton Global Initiative, as well as with the World Economic Forum on global health issues.

At Greenpeace Ian helped lead an international movement against genetically engineered crops in Europe and the Middle East. He persuaded Europe’s largest rice company to stop importing American rice to keep its stock GM-free. He also works closely with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to remove toxins from beauty products.

He has authored highly regarded reports on Nanotechnology. His writing has appeared in publications including the Journal of Nanoparticle Research and the European Journal of Oncology. He has also appeared in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, Scientific American, Business Week and Reuters, and served on the Executive Committee of Friends of the Earth International. Ian has a BA degree in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Her twenty years of experience in the nutrition and functional medicine fields led her to develop an integrated, “whole self” approach to nutrition called Food & Spirit, which is the practice of understanding one’s eating and living through seven core symbolic themes. Dr. Minich has had a diverse, well-rounded experience in the field of nutrition including clinical practice, research, product formulation, marketing, writing, and education.

Dr. Minich received her nutrition education during her Doctoral (PhD) study at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands where she researched essential fatty acid absorption and metabolism, and from her Master’s Degree (MS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she focused on carotenoids and oxidative stress. She is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition (FACN), a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), Certified Nutritionist (CN) by the Washington State Department of Health, and a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). Her passion is teaching a whole-self approach to nourishment and removing toxic barriers to health.

Along with co-authors Dr. Theo Colborn and Dianne Dumanoski, Myers wrote Our Stolen Future, a book (1996) that explores the scientific basis of concern for how contamination threatens fetal development. Dr. Myers is now actively involved in primary research on the impacts of endocrine disruption on human health. He is on the boards of the Science Communication Network and the Jenifer Altman Foundation.

Until its merger with Pew Charitable Trusts in 2007, he served as Board Chair of the National Environmental Trust. He has also served as Board President of the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, an association of more than 40 foundations supporting work on biodiversity, climate, energy and environmental health and board chair of the H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. He is an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Myers lectures around the world, including this TED-style talk in the Abbey Road Studio of London, in June 2016. In 2016 he received a Laureate Award for Outstanding Public Service from The Endocrine Society. In November 2016 he received the first “Champion of Environmental Health Research” award from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Perro is currently lecturing, consulting as well as doing research with Gordon Medical Associates, an integrative health center in Northern California. She has co-authored the highly acclaimed book, What’s Making our Children Sick and is Executive Director of a nonprofit science-based website, GMO Science. She has authored many publications and has a new column with the journal, Townsend Letter.

Before coming to the Breast Cancer Fund, Sharima was the founding academic coordinator at the U.C. Berkeley Institute for the Environment, where she built the institute from the ground up and fostered university-wide discussions on environmental issues. Previously, she served as consul for science and technology at the U.K. Consulate-General in San Francisco, where she built ties between scientists in the U.K. and California, encouraging collaboration on research and business ventures. Sharima holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K.

Dr. Maya’s philosophy is that the health of our inner terrain—our bodies– is a reflection of the health of our outer terrain, the natural world around us. Gut, immune and nervous system—and the many microbes therein—are a direct reflection of the food we eat and where that food comes from, from the soil it’s grown in to the water it swims in to the synthetic chemicals that it’s bathed in. Fresh food, microbes (that’s right, germs) and elements of nature—soil, sunshine, water, and fresh air—make children resilient and prevent or reverse their illness.

Board certified in adult and child neurology as well as pediatrics, Dr. Maya has a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed the University of Arizona’s Fellowship in Integrative Medicine, and now serves on their faculty. She lectures on children’s health, education and the importance of time in nature, botanical medicine, biodiversity, and the relationship between health and the natural world. Dr. Maya has testified on topics including fracking, safe products for children, and the impact of chemical exposures on children’s health. She also founded the Terrain Institute, where she teaches and mentors parents, educators, healers and health care providers about Terrain Medicine™. Dr. Shetreat-Klein practices, teaches and lives with her family in New York City, where she grows organic fruit and vegetables and keeps 8 chickens on her urban farm.

Laurel conducted research at the Stroud Water Research Center (Avondale, PA) and the Silent Spring Institute (Newton, MA). Over the course of her research career, she studied the fate of natural and human-made chemicals in aquatic ecosystems and the potential for human exposure to toxic chemicals in drinking water and household products.

After serving on numerous environmental boards and advisory committees, Laurel decided to leave research and earned a policy degree to facilitate her work on solutions to the problems she’d previously studied. Her work in this area includes development of a strategy for a large nonprofit to engage companies in conservation efforts and a customized water conservation and management plan for a government agency in the United Arab Emirates. 

Laurel received her B.S. in Chemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (1979), her Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from Oregon State University (1987), and her M.A. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware (2003).

Summer’s work has been focused on understanding the occurrence and effects of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Minnesota’s ambient environment. Recently, she led a team in the development of new method to derive aquatic life screening values for CECs. These screening values will be used to understand the risk to aquatic life exposed to low concentrations of CECs in Minnesota.

Summer earned her MS degree in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota, where she studied bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the Great Lakes’ microbial food web. She earned her BS degree in Environmental Science and Biology from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls.

Prior to completing her BS, Summer worked as a licensed esthetician for six years, where she performed facials and make-up application in a spa setting. Summer continues to be passionate about wellness and personal care. As an avid consumer of beauty products – and the mother of a three year-old girl – she is constantly searching for products that are non-toxic, yet elegant and effective.

“Most kids only get a single point of view on the food and beverages they consume. That point of view comes exclusively from the marketers with the most dollars,” says Strong. But he is committed to changing that.

Dunk The Junk’s spirited campaign is making its way across the country and into schools and communities along the way. Dr. Strong holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a Medical Degree from the University of Connecticut. He is a dedicated husband and father of three children. He enjoys graffiti, hiphop, and hoops. In his free time he can be found surfing Maine’s tortuous coast.

Since 1998, Dr. Swan’s research team has been conducting multi-center pregnancy cohort studies (the Study for Future Families (SFF) and The Infant Development and the Environment Study (TIDES) to better understand how prenatal and early childhood exposure to stressors, including chemicals commonly found in the environment such as phthalates and bisphenol-A, impact the reproductive health and development of children. Most recently Dr. Swan and colleagues have been studying the ability of pharmaceuticals, such as analgesics, to act as classical endocrine disruptors and impact reproductive tract development and neurodevelopment, potentially interacting with more classical endocrine disruptors. 

Katrina E. Varner – Environmental Research Scientist, U.S. EPA

Katrina is a Nanomaterial specialist at the Characterizing and Monitoring Branch of the Environmental Sciences Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. At the EPA, her primary research focuses around method development and evaluation of monitoring parameters of contaminants and hazardous waste.

Method and monitoring development involve the detection, speciation, and identification of organometallics in various media. This includes the development of screening techniques for groundwater and soil. Research is carried out with the development of methods via liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) and ion trap mass spectrometry hyphenated technologies (electrospray-quadrupole-ion trap). Varner is advancing LC/MS techniques for the characterization and remediation of nanomaterials as they apply to various media including water, soil, and tissue (environmental) in daily exposure and effect on animals and humans.

In 2007 he founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, LLC (a research organization developing green chemistry technologies) where he serves as President and Chief Technology Officer, and Beyond Benign (a non-profit dedicated to sustainability and green chemistry education). He is one of the founders of the field of Green Chemistry, co-authoring the defining text Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice with Paul Anastas. He has published over 200 patents, papers and books. His recent work in the fields of semiconductor design, biodegradable plastics, personal care products, solar energy and polymeric photoresists are examples of how green chemistry principles can be immediately incorporated into commercially relevant applications. Warner received The 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring, the American Institute of Chemistry’s Northeast Division’s Distinguished Chemist of the Year for 2002 and the Council of Science Society President’s 2008 Leadership award. Warner was named by ICIS as one of the most influential people impacting the global chemical industries. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and named one of “25 Visionaries Changing the World” by Utne Reader.

Rachel is also an executive board member of Epidemic Answers, an organization dedicated to reversing chronic illness in children; a founding board member of MamaGlow, a holistic maternal lifestyle brand, and sits on the board of the Juhi Ash Center in New York City, a wellness practice offering a healing-oriented approach to integrative medicine. Rachel lives in NYC and is currently helping grow her family agritourism business, South Farms, in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

In 2013 Kelly launched EcoSessions^®, a global event platform connecting industry, designers and citizens to discuss change. Since its launch, EcoSessions have been held in Berlin, Boston, New York, Singapore, London, Montreal, Los Angeles and Toronto on topics ranging from: Innovations in Textiles, Fashion and Sustainability, Nontoxic Beauty, Ethical Retailing and Fashion in Africa. Her book Magnifeco: Your Head-to-Toe Guide to Ethical Fashion and Non-Toxic Beauty was published by New Society in 2015 and led to Kelly producing and hosting the podcast: Magnifeco Radio.

Melissa has taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) for the past decade helping fashion design entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Her latest venture, the Wellness + Work Project, aims to help others balance their health and professional goals.

Paige blended her experience as an artist, blogger and speaker along with a certification in Esthetics and a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA in World Arts and Cultures (with a focus in women’s studies), to culminate in a philosophy that is uniquely her own.

Speaking engagements, podcast interviews, active blogging and collaboration with leadership organizations like The Environmental Working Group and Environmental Media Association has helped Paige establish a strong foundation and expand and add momentum to her vision. With the release of The Green Beauty Rules: The Essential Guide to Toxic-free Beauty, Green Glamour and Glowing Skin, Paige will extend the reach of her message to a wider audience. 

Rachael is also the president and co-founder of the Nutritional Aesthetics™ Alliance, the creator of the popular skincare and healthy lifestyle blog, Holistically Haute™, as well as the much-loved online course, Create Your Skincare. She’s an avid herbalist, skincare ingredient aficionado, and lifelong learner.

One of the areas Anne has concentrated her energies, are toxic chemicals and human health, especially the health of our children. Chronic illness and emotional distress among our nation’s youth has increased at an alarming rate during the past 20 years for exposures. In that time, illnesses such as autism, asthma, cancers, learning disabilities, diabetes, depression and obesity have skyrocketed, with no end in sight. Having lost several family members to cancer-related illnesses, and witnessing the toll that it takes, Anne clearly understands that if this trend continues, our children face a future that could be seriously compromised. It is this concern that has lead Anne on a journey of discovery and why she has committed her time, resources and talents to unite a coalition of concerned individuals, organizations, businesses and communities to come together for the sake of our children’s future.

During this time, Anne has become a dedicated advocate of environmentally conscious organizations and serves on the board of several national environmental health organizations, including Healthy Child Healthy World and Mt. Sinai’s Children’s Environmental Health Center. She has also served or serves on the board or advisory board of several other non-profits including Texas Campaign for the Environment, Clean Production Action, the Sustainable Food Center, HealthCode and the Arkansas Fashion Council.

Anne is the great-granddaughter of Richard S. Reynolds, the founder of The Reynolds Metals Corporation and the great, great-grand niece of RJ Reynolds Tobacco. This upbringing has provided a very unique perspective on the power big business can yield in the marketplace.  While there are many fantastic examples of corporations being good stewards, she has discovered there is a dark side to companies that operate with impunity toward the health and well-being of the planet. Anne is dedicated to finding a new, better way for business to operate, building innovative collaborations and her other ventures today, and into the future. 

Susan’s films have explored a range of contemporary issues such as ocean acidification and the future of ocean health, PTSD and the use of music to heal, the confluence of race, poverty and illness; and global food sustainability. Her films have aired on HBO, PBS, and the Discovery Channel. Susan sits on the boards of Oceana, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, We Are Family Foundation, and is a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council Global Leadership Council.

She received her undergraduate degree from Hampshire College, a certificate in ecological horticulture from University of California Santa Cruz and her master’s degree from NYU. Susan lives in New York City with her husband and children.

Prior to CHEJ, he was the Director of the Buffalo office of Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (CEC), a NY statewide grassroots environmental health organization. Mike lives in Brooklyn, NY where he serves on the Newtown Creek Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG), the Board of Directors of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG), and the Community Advisory Panel of the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund.

Leah has been recognized for several feats in her professional and personal life such as being named “Mom of the Year” by Shape Magazine, being named the 4th most Influential Mom Blogger by Cision Media, Top 10 Woman Changing School Nutrition, compared to Lady Gaga for her unique social media tactics in The Huffington Post, and “Favorite Weight Loss Blog” by Fitness Magazine. Her story, communities and work have also been featured on CNN, ABC, NBC, The O’Reilly Factor and in the following publications: Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, The Talk, Yahoo, Ladies Home Journal, Fitness Magazine, Shape Magazine, The Huffington Post, Women’s Day, Fitness RX, International Business Times, Babble, etc. She is also the author of Green Enough: Eat Better, Live Cleaner, Be Happier (All Without Driving Your Family Crazy!) (Rodale Books, 2018).

Leah has a Masters in Communication Management from the University of Southern California. She lives in Simi Valley with her husband and three young children.

For over a decade, she’s been immersed in the complexities and nuances of the consumer-packaged goods vertical. First as the co-founder of NibMor. Next, as the mastermind behind the expansion of popular clean beauty and wellness brands including S.W. Basics, True Moringa, Kips Granola Bark, GoodSam, Paper Greats and more. And now as the highly-sought-after advisor to many up-and-coming wellness products on a mission to land coveted spots on the shelves of national retailers like Whole Foods and Target. Her expertise has been featured at WELL Insiders, WELL Summit, ALT Summit, The Wild Rose Collective, the Rising Women Conference and Good Housekeeping’s Raise the Green Bar Summit.