Board of Directors

The Foundation for Alternative and Integrative Medicine (FAIM) is governed by six distinguished volunteer board members. Their achievements in the fields of public health and human services mean they often serve as an expert advisory panel to FAIM's staff.

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.