STEERING COMMITTEE
Cynthia Rider, PhD
Toxicologist, National Toxicology Program (NTP), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Cynthia serves as a project leader for testing programs including botanical dietary supplements. Her research focuses on evaluating and refining methods to predict mixture toxicity based on data from components or whole reference mixtures. She can be contacted at cynthia.rider@nih.gov
Cara Welch, PhD
Deputy Director, Office of Dietary Supplement Programs (ODSP), Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Cara Welch leads the development of new policies and programs involving regulatory compliance and provides scientific expertise for emerging issues affecting the dietary supplement industry. She is also responsible for prioritization and execution of ODSP’s research portfolio. She can be contacted at cara.welch@fda.hhs.gov
Michelle Embry, PhD
Associate Director, Environmental Science, Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)
Michelle is the Associate Director of HESI, where she provides leadership, technical direction, and guidance to varied, multi-stakeholder, collaborative committees on topics related to risk assessment and environmental protection worldwide. She can be contacted at membry@hesiglobal.org
Stefan Gafner, PhD
Chief Science Officer, American Botanical Council (ABC); Technical Director of ABC-AHP-NCBR Botanical Adulterants Program
Stefan is the chief science officer of ABC, an independent, nonprofit research & education organization. He is also technical director of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program, a large-scale collaborative program to educate members of the herbal and dietary supplement industry about ingredient and product adulteration. He can be contacted at stefan@herbalgram.org
Holly Johnson, PhD
Chief Science Officer, American Herbal Products Association
Holly has over 20 years experience in botanicals research as a pharmacognosist with a specialization in medical ethnobotany. She is the chief science officer for the American Herbal Products Association, an alliance of over 350 companies doing business in the natural products industry. She can be contacted at hjohnson@ahpa.org
Daniel S. Marsman, DVM, PhD
Head of Product Safety, Procter & Gamble HealthCare
Dan is a veterinary scientist and board-certified toxicologist. He has led global safety and regulatory initiatives for an array of natural health products, medicines and consumer goods. He can be contacted at marsman.ds@pg.com
Connie Mitchell, MS
Scientific Program Manager, Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)
Connie works on the Botanical Safety Consortium and other scientific committees at HESI to develop science for a safer, more sustainable world. She can be contacted at cmitchell@hesiglobal.org