Foundation fellows and clinical leads

Our fellows advise the Foundation, underpinning our work with their extensive knowledge. They include some of the leading medical lights in fields ranging from cancer and obestetrics to allergy and liver disease. There are also researchers in the field of complementary medicine and GPs who take an integrated approach.

Our clinical leads are our ambassadors within their clinical specialisms, developing our network of people with an active interest in, and commitment to, integrated health.

Professor Ruth Chambers, Foundation fellow

Ruth is a director of Naturally Healthy, a new organisation that guides clients and therapists in safe and effective practice of complementary therapies. She is the national education lead for the NHS Alliance, a part-time GP partner in North Staffordshire, clinical champion for the local NHS quality improvement framework and clinical champion for Stoke on Trent PCT’s Lifestyle Support Programme. She is Professor of Health Care at Staffordshire University.

Ruth has been made a Fellow of the Foundation for Integrated Health to recognize her national profile in promoting the quality of practice and patient centred care. Most of Ruth’s quality initiatives have been about improving practitioners’ performance and effective ways of working; and supporting patients’ self care including choice of complementary therapies.

Ruth has recently been working with the Royal College of GPs to establish the Essential Knowledge Update as a component of doctors’ recertification; she also works with the Department of Health to focus on clinical governance in respect of the revalidation of practitioners about whom there are local concerns about their performance, conduct or health.

Ruth has written around 70 books for health professionals and the general public.

Sir Cyril Chantler, Foundation fellow

Cyril Chantler is Chairman of the Board of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and of the Kings Fund, London. He is Chairman of the Beit Memorial Fellowships Board and of the Clinical Advisory Committee for NHS London. He is a trustee of the Dunhill Medical Trust, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Medical Association. He is an adviser to the Associate Parliamentary Health Group.

Cyril Chantler was Dean of the Guy’s, King’s College and St Thomas’ Hospitals’ Medical and Dental School, where he was the Children Nationwide Medical Research Fund Professor of Paediatric Nephrology until his retirement in 2000. He was a consultant to Guy’s Hospital (1972 – 2000). Previously, he was Principal of the United Medical and Dental School of Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals (1992 – 1998) and General Manager of Guy’s Hospital (1985-88).

In addition, he served as a member of the Member of the NHS Policy Board (1989-1996), President of the British Association of Medical Managers (1991-1997), and as Chairman of the Council of Heads of UK Medical Schools and Faculties (1998 – 1999). He was also a Member of the General Medical Council (1994 – 2003), where he was Chairman of the Standards Committee. Recently he was Chairman of the Shared Medical Record Committee of NHS Connecting for Health.

Mr Michael Dooley, Foundation fellow

Michael Dooley is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He qualified from the University of London and then gained clinical and research experience working in London, Oxford and Southern Ireland. His special interest is in reproductive endocrinology and he has particular expertise in infertility, menopause, pre-menstrual syndrome, endometriosis and pelvic pain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, menstrual problems and sports gynaecology.

Michael has always been interested in a holistic, integrated team approach to patient care. He was Director of Sports Science and Medicine for the British Equestrian Federation between 1994 and 2002. During this time he travelled, as part of the British Olympic Team, to the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics. He is now gynaecologist at The Olympic Medical Institute at Northwick Park.

In order to understand integrated medicine further Michael has travelled to India on several occasions.

With this background, Michael has now opened The Poundbury Clinic in Dorchester which is concentrating on women’s integrated healthcare. He also works in London at Harley Street and The Lister Hospital.

In collaboration with the award winning journalist, Sarah Stacey, Michael has written a book ‘Your Change, Your Choice: The integrated approach to the menopause and beyond’. He is sole author of ‘Fit for Fertility’ and is developing a Fit for Fertility programme for his patients.

Professor Adrian Eddleston, Foundation fellow

Professor Eddleston qualified in Medicine at Oxford and Guys and became Professor of Liver Immunology and a Consultant Physician with a special interest in autoimmune and viral liver disease and general medicine at King's College Hospital.

His interest in medical education, particularly in improving communication skills, team working and interest in primary care, led to his appointment as Curriculum Sub-dean and Vice-Dean from 1983 to 1992. He became Dean of the Medical School in 1992, and was appointed the first Dean of the merged Medical School of Guy's, King's and St Thomas' (GKT) in 1998.

After retiring in 2000, Professor Eddleston was appointed Chair of Bromley Primary Care Trust (PCT) until 2005. Until recently he was Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee of the King's Fund, and was a member of the London Health Commission. In Jan 2008 he was elected Chairman of the General Osteopathic Council.

Email Professor Adrian Eddleston

Dr Peter Fisher, Foundation Fellow

Dr Peter Fisher is an accredited specialist in both homeopathy and rheumatology. He has a special interest in the treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and connective tissue disease, integrating complementary and conventional medicine.

He also has an interest in skin disease and general medical problems. He uses mostly homeopathy and nutritional methods, and works closely with other clinicians who practice acupuncture, herbal medicine, relaxation and stress management and other methods.

Dr Fisher is Clinical Director and Director of Research of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital and Physician to Her Majesty The Queen

He is Clinical Lead of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s (NICE) NHS Evidence - complementary and alternative medicine (www.library.nhs.uk/cam). He also leads the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine Library and Information Service (CAMLIS, www.cam.nhs.uk) which provides unique access to the CAM literature.

He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional and Complementary Medicine and received the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal of the Polish Academy of Medicine in 2007. He is Editor-in-Chief of Homeopathy, published by Elsevier, the only journal dedicated to homeopathy indexed in Pubmed. (www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14754916).

Peter Fisher has conducted numerous research projects in complementary medicine. His interest in complementary medicine was triggered by a visit to China during the Cultural Revolution while still a medical student at Cambridge University. He focussed on homeopathy while a junior doctor on call at The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital.

Professor Simon Gibbons, Foundation Fellow

Simon Gibbons is Professor of Phytochemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry at The School of Pharmacy, University of London. He received BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry and Phytochemistry respectively and worked in the Biotechnology sector in Natural Product Chemistry from 1993-1997.

In 2005 he was the recipient of the Phytochemical Society of Europe - Pierre Fabre Prize for Phytochemistry. In addition to being a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and the Royal Society of Chemistry, from 2010 to 2016 he will be Chairman of the Phytochemical Society of Europe.

Professor Gibbons’ research has been supported by UK government research councils (EPSRC), Industry (Union Life Sciences, Stiefel International R&D) and Charitable Trusts (The Leverhulme Trust, The Wellcome Trust).

His research interests are on the isolation and structure elucidation of bioactive natural products from plants, particularly antibacterials and bacterial resistance modifying agents. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Phytochemistry Letters, and is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Planta Medica, Phytotherapy Research, Phytochemical Analysis, Fitoterapia, Phytochemistry Reviews and the Chinese Journal of Natural Medicine. He is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of the book series Progress in the Organic Chemistry of Natural Products (“Zechmeister”).

Professor Stephen Holgate, Foundation fellow

Professor Stephen Holgate is MRC clinical professor of immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton. He is a member of several government committees, and a past member of the NHS Central Research & Development Committee. The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology enquiry into complementary and alternative medicine 2000 - 2001 used him as an advisor.

He is currently a member of The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Chairman of The Science Council's Science in Health Group and Chairman of the Medical Research Council's Physiological Systems and Clinical Sciences Board.

Dame Donna Kinnair, Foundation fellow and clinical lead for nurses

Donna Kinnair has been instrumental in improving child protection in the UK, following the Victoria Climbie inquiry on which she served as an advisor.

She has been a nurse for over 25 years and is currently Director of Nursing and Director of Commissioning at Southwark Primary Care Trust. Her career in nursing began in 1983, with her becoming a health visitor and undertaking a masters degree in medical law and ethics, which led to her specialism in child protection. She recognises the value of working in partnership and says 'You can't change the world overnight but you can make improvements bit by bit, which can have lasting consequences.'

She has taught students and published articles on medical law, ethics and child protection around the world. She talks to us here about why she supports integrated health.

Professor George Lewith, Foundation fellow

George Lewith is Professor of Health Research in the Complementary Medicine Research Unit, University of Southampton, UK.

George Lewith leads an international CAM research group within the University of Southampton currently comprising four postdoctoral fellows and five current PhD students. He has raised over £4 million in research funds in the last 10 years and has published over 100 peer reviewed articles since 2001.

The research group is focused on differentiating the specific from the non specific effects of CAM and developing models that will help to explain the patient perceived benefits of these interventions. His team are currently interested in pain, arthritis and cancer as illness models investigating the effects of acupuncture, healing, homeopathy and herbal medicines.

: Mr Michael McIntyre, Foundation fellow; Michael McIntyre is a herbalist trained in western herbalism, traditional Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. Formerly president of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, he currently chairs the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association.

Dr Hugh MacPherson, Foundation fellow

After earning a PhD in Mathematics, Hugh MacPherson trained in acupuncture in London and China. He has worked at the York Clinic for Complementary Medicine since its inception in 1982.

He founded and has been Principal and Honorary President of the York-based Northern College of Acupuncture. This college runs a range of educational programmes including a Master of Science degree course in acupuncture, validated by the University of Central Lancashire.
For four years he was a member of the Executive Committee of the British Acupuncture Council.

Hugh currently has a joint appointment as an Honorary Research Director of the Foundation for Research into Traditional Chinese Medicine, a registered charity, and as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of York, where he is funded by the Department of Health to develop the evidence on effectiveness and safety for complementary therapies. He currently holds a fellowship with the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and a Career Scientist Award with the National Institute for Health Research

Simon Mills, Foundation Fellow

Simon Mills is Managing Director of the SustainCare community interest company which promotes a wide range of validated approaches to self care. He is the lead of the Department of Health project 'Integrated self-care in family practice.

He is also secretary of ESCOP European herbal medicine scientific network; Founder Director of the MSc in Herbal Medicine at the Tai Sophia Institute for the Healing Arts, Maryland, USA; former special advisor, the House of Lords select committee on complementary and alternative medicine. He is also a herbal practitioner.

Professor David Peters, Foundation fellow

David Peters is a leading innovator in the field of holistic healthcare and the integration of complementary therapies into mainstream medical practice. He is one of the founding faculty of the University of Westminster’s School of Integrated Health, where he is Professor of Integrated Healthcare and Clinical Director.

David trained and practiced as a medical doctor and GP, and has worked with complementary medicine and with complementary practitioners in NHS general practice for nearly 30 years. He is also a fully qualified homeopathic and osteopathic practitioner and musculoskeletal physician. From 1990 until 2005 he directed the complementary therapies development programme at Marylebone Health Centre, a ground-breaking Central London NHS primary care unit set up in 1986 to develop new approaches for inner city healthcare.

His R&D interests include the role of non-pharmaceutical complex interventions in mainstream medicine, wellbeing – particularly in long term conditions - and the development of integrated practitioners and integrative practice.

Prof Peters chairs the British Holistic Medical Association and Editor of its Journal of Holistic Healthcare.

Professor Jane Plant CBE, Foundation fellow

Professor Jane Plant is Anglo American Professor of Geochemistry at Imperial College, London. She presently chairs the Government's Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and is a member of the Chemical Stakeholder Forum. She is vice president of the All Party Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.

Until 2005 she was Chief Scientist of the British Geological Survey where she and her staff carried out studies into the links between human health and the environment including problems caused by arsenical water supplies in Bangladesh and by selenium deficiency in crops in parts of China. She has published widely on links between human health and chemicals in the environment.

Professor Karol Sikora, Foundation fellow

Karol Sikora is Medical Director of CancerPartnersUK which is creating the largest UK cancer network as a series of joint ventures with independent sector hospitals and NHS Trusts.

He is Professor of Cancer Medicine and honorary Consultant Oncologist at Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London. He Chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of SourceBioscience PLC, Britain’s leading cancer diagnostic company. He has recently been appointed Dean of Britain’s first independent Medical School at the University of Buckingham. He is a Senior Adviser to the WHO Cancer Programme and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He has published over 300 papers and written or edited 20 books including Treatment of Cancer - the standard British postgraduate textbook now in its fifth edition and most recently The Economics of Cancer Care. He is on the editorial board of several journals and is the founding editor of Gene Therapy and Cancer Strategy. He was a member of the UK Health Department’s Expert Advisory Group on Cancer (the Calman-Hine Committee) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines.

Dr Catherine Zollman, Foundation fellow

Dr Catherine Zollman trained in Medicine at Oxford University and the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London.

On graduation, she trained initially in internal medicine and oncology, before completing her studies in General Practice. From 1996-1999 she was Medical Director of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine, a charity promoting, facilitating and undertaking rigorous research into complementary approaches. She co-authored a series of articles on Complementary Medicine in the British Medical Journal, which was later published as a book, ABC of Complementary Medicine. (2^nd Ed. 2008, Wiley-Blackwell).

Catherine now works part-time as a GP in an urban practice in south-east Bristol, where she tries to take a holistic perspective on the many and varied cases she treats. She uses primary care level homeopathy, acupuncture and relaxation skills training in her work and would like to make more use of nutrition and bodywork as these are very neglected areas of conventional healthcare training in the UK. She also maintains an active interest in the field of oncology and works part–time as an Integrative Medicine Specialist at Penny Brohn Cancer Care (formerly the Bristol Cancer Help Centre).

Sarah Bazin, OBE, Clinical lead for physiotherapists

Sarah Bazin is a senior Therapy Manager at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.

She represented the West Midlands on the Council of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) for 14 years and has recently served as Chair.

In October 2007 she was awarded a Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and is currently a Vice President.

She is currently the Chairman of the CSP Prescribing Group, President of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Management, and the first Vice Chairman of the European Region of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy. She chairs West Midlands Strategic Health Authority non-medical consultants peer review group and is a member of the SHA steering group looking at transformation of the workforce from secondary to primary care.

Angie Buxton-King, Clinical lead for complementary practitioners

Angie Buxton-King runs a complementary therapy clinic for those with cancer at UCLH hospital, partly funded by the Trust, and partly funded by her charity, the Sam Buxton Sunflower Healing Trust, set up in memory of her son who died of leukaemia.

Angie is herself a healer. She has created policy and protocols to govern complementary therapies within the NHS and speaks widely on integrated health.

Christine Glover, Clinical lead for pharmacists

Christine Glover is a past President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain the professional body for 45,000 pharmacists.

Christine sits as a lay person on the Committee for Safety of Devices for the MHRA and also sits as the pharmacist member of the Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products. She chaired the Expert Group appointed by the CSD on the possible mutagenicity of metal on metal hip replacements.

She sits on a professional advisory board for the charity Migraine Action, and on the advisory board for the Academy of Pharmaceutical Science. She also sits on two advisory groups for NAPP Pharmaceuticals.

Having had her own community pharmacy for 15years in Edinburgh’s West End she now practices as an holistic health consultant in Edinburgh and London. Almost everyone arrives at her clinic as the result of a recommendation and this includes a number of local GPs who send her patients regularly.