Self-Paced Spring 2022 Virtual Conference: The Diagnosis and Treatment of Chemical Sensitivity

Dr. Robin Bernhoft is one of the nation’s leading practitioners in the field of environmental medicine. He comes to his expertise not only through extensive academic and professional training and decades as a practicing physician and surgeon, but also from the uniquely motivating perspective of having been a patient himself who had to fight desperately for his life and was literally forced to find a way to heal himself from an illness that left his MD colleagues at a loss for diagnosis and treatment.  He had severe respiratory and GI symptoms, numerous allergies, sensitivities to perfumes, car exhaust and other common odors, lost 35 pounds in four months and had to abruptly walk away from his several-years-long, busy practice as a pancreatic surgeon.  Dr. Bernhoft’s search for underlying causes of his debilitating illness led him to study environmental medicine.

His personal quest for survival carried him into cutting-edge advanced medicine, including gene-environment interactions. He found out that his gene which codes for an enzyme called MTHFR was hypoactive, and a second, which produces GSTM1 was absent, leaving him susceptible to poisoning by a wide range of metals and chemicals. Since the Genome Project has identified abnormalities of this sort, biochemists have found ways to improve performance of substandard enzymes like MTHFR and increase the amount of enzymes backing up GSTM1, allowing improved function. With this new information, he was able to begin clearing the metals, chemicals and surgical disinfectants which had poisoned him, and regain his health.

Dr. Shanhong Lu completed her MD in Beijing, a PhD in human physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Genetics of Hypertension at UC San Francisco. Dr. Lu is a published author in hypertension research and a public speaker for the critical movement to recognize the importance of environmental health on human illnesses and longevity.  She is double board certified in Internal Medicine and in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. She also strongly believes in optimizing women’s hormones through biorhythmic bioidentical dosing. Her interest in the root causes of chronic diseases was inspired by her trials and errors over the past 26 years in clinical practice, healing not only her own endocrine and autoimmune challenges, but also through caring for thousands of people with serious, complex medical issues.  Her biggest gift is her ability to study, practice, teach and connect with some of the most brilliant minds.

William J. Meggs, MD, PhD, FACMT, FACEP, received a PhD degree in theoretical physics and was a National Science Foundation Post-doctoral Fellow at C.E.R.N in Geneva Switzerland. He attended the two-year PhD to MD program at the University of Miami. After completing an internal medicine residency, he became a Medical staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he helped Dr. Anthony S. Fauci take care of the first AIDS patients admitted to the NIH Clinical Center. He joined the faculty of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and completed a fellowship in Medical Toxicology at New York University as a faculty development project. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Allergy, and Medical Toxicology. He has published over 60 research articles in the refereed medical literature, including contributions to the mechanisms of chemical sensitivity. He co-authored a book, Biomarkers of Immunotoxicity for the National Academy of Sciences. His book, The Inflammation Cure, a wellness book for the general public, was favorably reviewed by The New York Times and Library Journal. The Inflammation Cure Cookbook contains heart health recipes, instructions on elimination diets, and how to keep a food diary to identify food intolerances. He edited Toxicant Induction of Asthma, Rhinitis, and Related Conditions. He is married to the fine artist Susan Martin Meggs (www.martinmeggsfinearts.com).

Dr. Lisa Nagy is Board Certified in Environmental Medicine as well as Emergency Medicine Dr. Lisa Nagy has recovered from severe Environmental Illness which began in 2000. She now lectures nationwide, has spoken at congressional meetings and government agencies like EPA, CDC, NIEHS.

Dr. Kalpana Patel is a board certified Environmental and regenerative Medicine specialist having deep interest in the environmental aspects of health and disease. She is a Founder and a director of highly specialized medical facility- Environmental Health Center-Buffalo (EHC-Buffalo). She was a president of the American Board of Environmental Medicine, and has served on the board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine. Dr. Patel has received two highly prestigious awards including Herbert J Rinkle award by American Academy of Environmental Medicine for her contribution and research and excellence in teaching techniques of environmental medicine. She has also received the 2003 Physician of the year award and 2004 Pioneer of Healthcare Reform Award and many other awards nationally and internationally.

Dr. Patel is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Environmental Medicine and American Academy of stem cell physicians. She is widely sought national and international speaker. Dr. Patel has published many peer-reviewed research papers related to the topic of environmental medicine.

Dr. David Quig received his B.S and M.S degrees in Human Nutrition from Virginia Tech, and his PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Illinois. He was then a Research Associate at Cornell University for five years, prior to serving as a Senior Cardiovascular Pharmacologist with a major pharmaceutical company for seven years.  For the past 42 years, he has performed and published research pertaining to nutrition, environmental medicine and chronic diseases.   David  is the Vice President of Scientific Support for Doctor’s Data, Inc. where he consults with medical practitioners about recent biomedical research, and interpretation of laboratory test results and treatment options for their patients.

Aristo Vojdani obtained his MSc and PhD in microbiology and clinical immunology from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, with postdoctoral studies in comparative immunology at UCLA and tumor immunology at Charles Drew/UCLA School of Medicine and Science. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Loma Linda University in California, and an Adjunct Professor at the Lincoln College of Professional, Graduate and Continuing Education at the National University of Health Sciences. His ongoing research focuses on the role of environmental triggers in complex diseases, and he has developed more than 300 antibody assays for the detection of autoimmune disorders and other diseases. He has 17 US patents, over 200 articles, and 2 books, “Neuroimmunity and the Brain-Gut Connection” and “Food-Associated Autoimmunities: When Food Breaks Your Immune System,” to his name.

He is the CEO of Immunosciences Lab in Los Angeles, California, the Chief Scientific Advisor for Cyrex Labs in Phoenix, Arizona, and sits on the editorial board of 5 scientific journals. His many awards include the Herbert J. Rinkel Award (American Academy of Environmental Medicine), the Linus Pauling, PhD Award (American College for Advancement in Medicine), and the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.