Moderator: Douglas “Duffy” MacKay, N.D.. Senior Vice President, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Council for Responsible Nutrition
Douglas “Duffy” MacKay, N.D., is senior vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition. Dr. MacKay oversees CRN’s science and regulatory affairs department, ensuring that the association’s scientific, policy and legislative positions are based on credible scientific rationale. His expertise combines practical knowledge of industry regulation and scientific product development with hands-on experience as a medical practitioner. He is a licensed naturopathic doctor who still sees patients on a part-time basis and previously was owner and practitioner in a New Hampshire integrative medical practice. Dr. MacKay serves on the advisory board for the American Botanical Council, the NSF International Joint Committee on Dietary Supplements, and the NIST/NIH Dietary Supplement Laboratory Quality Assurance Program. He is also on the editorial board of three peer-reviewed publications: the official publication of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Natural Medicine Journal, Integrative Medicine—a Clinicians Journal, and Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research. He is also Chair of the Steering Committee for the SIDI Work Group. Dr. MacKay earned his B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his N.D. from the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Dr. MacKay is licensed in the states of Maryland and New Hampshire.
SPEAKERS
Susan J Hewlings PhD, RD
Director of Scientific Affairs , Nutrasource
Dr. Susan Hewlings received her PhD in nutrition from the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences at Florida State University. She received her BS in nutrition and her MS in exercise physiology, also from Florida State. She is a Registered Dietitian, a full- time professor at Central Michigan University, and Science Director for Nutrasource Diagnostics. She is Co-Founder of Substantiation Sciences LLC where she provides science and nutrition consulting services and medical writing for the dietary supplement, cannabis and medicalindustries. She was formerly an assistant professor at The University of Central Florida College of Medicine where she was responsible for integrating nutrition into a new medical school curriculum. She was an assistant professor Tenured in the Department of Integrative Health Sciences at Stetson University. Susan completed a fellowship studying protein and fat metabolism at The University of Texas Medical Branch/Shriners Burn Institute. She is the author of Nutrition: Real People, Real Choices and has published multiple articles on dietary supplements, pharmacokinetics and nutrition. Dr. Hewlings is founder and director of The A.R.F. Shack 501c3 non-profit animal rescue. She is currently living with her 5 dogs in the Florida Keys. She is also a competitive ultrarunner and adventure racer.
Hector Lopez, MD, CSCS, FAAPMR, FISSN.
Co-Founder, Supplement Safety Solutions, LLC.
CMO, Center for Applied Health Sciences, LLC.
Dr. Lopez is recognized for applying his diverse background in PM&R, spine and sports medicine, exercise science, nutritional biochemistry, metabolism and clinical research, and has transitioned from clinical medicine to focus on nutra-biosciences, dietary supplements and functional foods as research scientist, safety & regulatory key opinion leader. Dr. Lopez is the CMO/ Partner of Center for Applied Health Sciences, an interdisciplinary clinical research organization focused on the dietary supplement and functional foods/ beverage industry, and he is Co-Founder of Supplement Safety Solutions, a comprehensive Pre-market through Post-market safety, Nutravigilance®, adverse event and cGMP regulatory compliance consulting company. He is managing director of an intellectual property discovery, identification, incubation, development company to bring novel, bioactive compounds for out-licensing to the dietary supplement, natural products, functional foods/ beverage space grounded in science and safety.
Rend Al-Mondhiry
Senior Counsel, Amin Talati Upadhye, LLP
Rend Al-Mondhiry is Senior Counsel at Amin Talati Upadhye LLP in Washington, DC, where she advises clients in the dietary supplement, food, and cosmetic industries on a broad range of FDA and FTC regulatory and compliance matters. She is committed to helping her clients responsibly develop and market products, drawing on her years of experience advising the nation’s leading dietary supplement and food companies on complex labeling, advertising, and ingredient issues. In her previous role as Associate General Counsel at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, Rend advocated on the industry’s behalf numerous times before FDA, FTC, Congress, and state attorneys general. She has substantial experience initiating and defending challenges before the Council of Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, and has assisted companies with FDA import alerts and detentions, International Trade Commission matters, and Proposition 65 compliance.