Board of Directors

Berkley Bedell

Berkley Bedell, Founder and Chairman of FAIM, took $50 earned on his newspaper route and began a business making fishing tackle. The small company he started is now an international enterprise.

Mr. Bedell was elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat representing Iowa's Sixth District in 1975. Mr. Bedell retired from Congress in 1988, having contracted Lyme disease. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bedell was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He became active in investigating complementary and alternative medical treatments as a result of being introduced to innovative remedies. Mr. Bedell no longer suffers from either cancer or Lyme disease, and he attributes his cures to the alternative therapies he used.

Ken Bedell

Ken Bedell, Ph.D., is the oldest son of Berkley and Elinor Bedell. He and his wife, Kathie, have two daughters and three grandchildren.

Ken is a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Education in the U.S. Department of Education's Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in Washington, DC.

An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Ken has served as Associate General Secretary for the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and as pastor of congregations in New York, Maryland, and Ohio. He has served as a professor at United Theological Seminary and taught in Swaziland and Africa. He is the author of several books on worship, technology, and ethics.

He is a colon cancer survivor. He credits his healing in part to treatments that were made known to him by his daughter, Sarah Cook who is a naturopathic doctor, and FAIM. Ken is a returning former FAIM board member and served as the Acting Executive Director of FAIM in 2005.

Cabell Brand

Cabell Brand is the Founder and Chairman of Cabell Brand Center for International Poverty and Resource Studies and President of Recovery Systems, Inc., an environmental focused organization and international development consultant. He was a Director of First Virginia Banks Inc. for 21 years. He is a former Director of Electrolux Inc. (now Aerus LLC).

He founded Total Action Against Poverty in the Roanoke Valley in 1965 and was its President and Chairman for 30 years. During that 30 year period, he helped start many innovative programs such as Head Start, the Child Health Investment Project (CHIP), Virginia CARES, and the Virginia Water Project, all focused on low income people.

He is Chairman Emeritus of TAP and CHIP; Board Member Emeritus of Virginia Community Development Corp.; Board Member of Virginia Conservation Network, Action Alliance for Virginia's Children & Youth (now Voices for Virginia's Children), Western Virginia Land Trust, and Blue Ridge Public TV. He is a member of the President's Circle of the National Academy of Sciences, New Century Vital Signs Project and the World Business Academy.

He was on the Virginia State Board of Health (nine years - served as Chairman until 1989), Director of the Young Presidents' Organization, received the Hall of Fame Award of the Direct Selling Association; is a recipient of the National VISTA Award (1980 - as the businessman in the U.S. who had done the most for low income people) and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Humanitarian Award (1990). He has received Honorary Doctoral Degrees from four colleges.

He is married to the former Shirley Hurt and together they have eight children and 13 grandchildren.

Bob Edgar

Bob Edgar, PhD is the President and CEO of Common Cause, a national nonpartisan, non-profit "citizens" lobby working to make government at all levels more honest, open and accountable, and to connect citizens with their democracy. Dr. Edgar came to Common Cause after serving as general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, 2000-2007. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Edgar served as president of Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California, 1990-2000.

Dr. Edgar is well known for his service as a six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the first Democrat in more than 120 years to be elected from the Seventh District of Pennsylvania. Serving in Congress from 1974 to 1987, he led efforts to improve public transportation, authored the community Right to Know provisions of Super Fund legislation, co-authored the new GI bill for the all-volunteer service, fought wasteful water projects, and supported environmental goals.

Phil Holstein

Phil Holstein has had an active interest in complementary and alternative medicine for more than fifty years, beginning with his scientific studies at Cornell University in the 1950s.

More recently, he was the lead investor and mentor to AlternativeMedicine.com and guided this publishing company to its successful acquisition by Inner Doorway, Inc.

Mr. Holstein was also an owner of Syroco, Inc., America's largest manufacturer of decorative molded products. He is a board member of the Given Institute, an educational organization owned by the University of Colorado Medical School, which presents speakers and hosts seminars on health-related issues.

Mr. Holstein is also a prominent art collector, consultant, and dealer specializing in tribal and primitive arts. Through his trading company, The Thundercloud Corporation, he works with museums, corporations, and individuals on publication, long-range planning, and acquisition and identification of rare objects.

George Zabrecky

George Zabrecky, MD, DC is the founder and developer of The Life Extension Center, also known as Americas Research and Treatment Center. This international medical treatment facility has physicians from several countries that provide treatments for cancer and other degenerative diseases with approved combination therapies from Germany, Canada, United States, France, Russia, China, Italy, and Spain.

Dr. Zabrecky is certified in acupuncture, meridian therapy, physiotherapeutics, radiology, clinical nutrition, proprietary pharmaceuticals, applied kinesiology, and homeopathy.

He is a scientific advisor for the Marcus Foundation and serves on the board of the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation.

FAIM Staff

Joanne Quinn, Executive Director

Joanne Quinn, Ph.D., RMA, is the Executive Director for FAIM.

Joanne has an extensive background in science with a Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition. She has studied both allopathic and alternative approaches to health care, studying alternative therapies since 1989. These include Neurotransmitters and Brain Chemistry with Apex, Iridology with Bernard Jensen, Rayid with Dennis Johnson, Dark Field Microscopy with Gaston Naessons, Herbology with Total Health and Research, Homeopathy with Jeremy Sherr, Functional Endocrinology with Datis Kharazian, Nutrition with Bernard Jensen, Kinesiology with Total Health and Research, One Brain with One and Three Concepts, Blood Chemistry with Datis Kharazian,Touch for Health with the Touch for Health Foundation, Aromatherapy with Young Living, Meridian balancing and Chakras with Total Health and Research and Brain Gym with the Educational Kinesiology Foundation. In addition, she is a Registered Medical Assistant.

Joanne is also the Executive Director of the ELS Foundation which disseminates information to help in the elimination of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) based on research done in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Previously, Joanne has been involved with Peace Links, Women Against Nuclear War and Children's Response to Conflict.

FAIM Consultants

Ferdinando Pisani Massamormile, International Research Consultant

Ferdinando Pisani Massamormile, MS, Ferdinando is the International Research Consultant for FAIM and is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian.

Education

1985-1989 LUISS University (Libera Universita’ degli Studi Sociali) Rome, Italy, Major in Economics and thesis on Japanese Multinational Corporations. Founded and directed university newspaper “The Louis”.

1990 Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. Summer Program on South East Asian Economics.

1992 Universidad de Chile, Santiago. One-year program on Andean Anthropology by Prof. Victoria Castro.

1995 Schumacher College, Devon, UK. Centre of Ecological Thinking. Principle lecturers: Hazel Henderson, Vandana Shiva, Fritjof Capra, Martin Khor, Jacob von Uxkull, Brian Goodwin, Edward Goldsmith and Satish Kumar.

1997 New York Botanical Gardens, USA. Course in Ethnomedicine; final research project on the Medical Practices of Kallawaya Indians of Bolivia.

Currently studying Traditional Medicine with curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon.

Work

2006-2008 FAIM, Washington, DC and Lima, Peru. International Field Coordinator

2004-2005 Takiwasi, Tarapoto, Peru. Project Developer for this NGO dedicated to researching and applying Amazonian Traditional Medicine.

2003 Green Medicine International, Bordeaux, France. Created program to treat HIV/AIDS using aromatherapy, supplements and other non-toxic holistic therapies in Santiago, Chile.

2002 Barefoot Doctors Paris, France. Directed this NGO on behalf of Jean-Pierre Willem, MD and set up ethnomedical projects in South America.

2000-2002 Milena Kaneva Productions, Rome, Italy. Film Producer. Among the films made were TV documentaries on Balkan Traditional Medicine and the Cuban Medical System and the award winning film Total Denial.

2000 Catherine Wyler Productions. Line Producer for film on Pope John Paul II based on George Weigel’s biography Witness to Hope.

1999 Italian Parliament, Rome, Italy. Assisted MP Sandra Fei in setting up the international campaign against violence on women. Organized the Italian boycott of the annual Interpol meeting (because of their involvement with corrupt governments). Initiated protests against Iranian human rights violations during Khatami’s visit. Organized lobby campaign in favor of the Burmese Nobel Prize Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Helped initiate the first parliamentary discussion on possible crisis in East Timor.

1998 Helen Whitney Productions. Line Producer for documentary film on Pope JPII aired on PBS.

European Observer Unit, Cambodia. Italian mission member monitoring the 1998 Elections.

1996-1997 Stefano Celesti Productions, New York. Assistant Producer and Photographer.

1995 New Economics Foundation London, UK. Set up The Other Economic Summit at the Naples G7 Summit in tight collaboration with The Right Livelihood Foundation founded by Jacoub von Uxkull.

1992-1994 Tevecorp Santiago, Chile. Assistant Producer of Manuela Gumucio in media project in partnership with RAI (the Italian State-owned television company).

Kristina Olson, Consultant for National Research

Kristina (Kris) Olson, L.Ac, DipOM, maintains an active clinic, The Center for Oriental Medicine, in Ft. Collins, CO. She incorporates functional medicine, energy therapies and various physical modalities into her practice, blending the best of both East and West. She completed her Chinese Medicine education at the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1996.

She is certified in Acupuncture, Chinese Herbology and Oriental Medicine and holds additional certifications in Homeopathy, Nutritive Therapy and various Body and Energy Medicine techniques. She has served on the faculty of several colleges, teaching Chinese Medicine and other complementary health related subjects.

Prior to establishing her practice, she spent a number of years in the corporate world and holds and MBA from the University of Michigan. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the Acupuncture Association of Colorado and the International Institute of Visualization Research.

Cam Howard, Web site design and development; Information technology consultant

Cam Howard is a web site designer/developer based in New Hampshire. She creates web-based resources for non-profit, education, and ministry-related organizations and enjoys working collaboratively with people to help tell their stories.

Prior to her current work, she worked with Ken Bedell at EPIC, Inc. (Ecumenical Programs in Information and Communication) and taught at United Theological Seminary (Dayton, OH) in the fields of web site design, graphics animation, multimedia production, instructional design, and online learning. She has also worked with communications for the New Hampshire Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.