WASHINGTON, Jan. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Organic & Natural Health Association will hold its annual conference Jan. 25-27 at DiamondHead Beach Resort in Fort Myers, Florida. The conference will open with optional networking events on Jan. 24, including 18 holes of golf, followed by dinner and “Bogeys, Beers & Bourbon” tasting sponsored by Mercola and AIDP. Atrium Innovations will host the opening dinner, Jan. 25. The conference theme this year is “Resolution, Resourcefulness, Resilience: An Action Plan for Our Future.”
Kicking off the content focus is keynote speaker, Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care physician and president of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance. Kory gained national attention in 2020, when he testified twice before a U.S. Senate committee about the COVID-19 protocol his hospital was using to save lives, and will be sharing how his integrative medical approach works with COVID patients, including the use of dietary supplements, and how to create a pathway forward in the existing climate. Much of Kory’s experience with COVID patients began as he led intensive care units in multiple COVID hotspots throughout the pandemic during surges in New York City, Greenville, South Carolina and Milwaukee. He has co-authored five influential papers on COVID-19, with the most impactful being a paper that was the first to support the diagnosis of early COVID respiratory disease as an organizing pneumonia, thus explaining the critical response of the disease to corticosteroids. Additional speakers at the conference include Andre Leu, international director, Regeneration International; Bethany Davis, director of social impact, advocacy and government relations, MegaFood; Paul Altaffer, chief innovation officer, RFI Ingredients; Ronnie Cummins, co-founder and international director, Organic Consumers Association; Elizabeth Candelario, director of strategic partnerships, Mad Agriculture; Derek Lurth, co-founder and CEO, HealthLoq; David Trosin, managing director, NSF Health Sciences Certification, NSF International; Dhaval Patel, scientific program manager, NemaLife; John Fagan, chairman and chief scientist, HRI Labs; Brett Lemker, founder and CEO, optiAMZ; and Debra Short, executive director, and Renee Southard, president, SENPA.
Also being introduced at the conference is a new testing program for a seal developed by HRI Labs called, “The Health Check,” which has been added to O&N Health’s Annual Member Attestation. The testing program tests for 200 different pesticides and stands as the highest pesticide/herbicide-free standard in the United States. The process calls for every individual lot to be tested, ensuring consumer trust and providing scientific proof that products are truly organic.
“With the high risk of contamination and a growing awareness of the limitations associated with organic certification, we believe that our member companies will embrace this new, fast and efficient certification as a way to further build consumer confidence in a thoroughly transparent manner,” said Karen Howard, executive director and CEO of Organic & Natural Health.
In addition to three dinners and multiple networking opportunities during the conference, Organic & Natural Health will also celebrate its successful first year raising funds for the Williams-Franklin Foundation’s “Organic & Natural Health Scholarship Fund.” Co-founders, Dwight Franklin and LaShelle (Williams) Franklin, will attend the conference for a special recognition and presentation of the 2021 funds raised of $24,000, nearly half of the overall $50,000 commitment made by Organic & Natural Health to support education expenses for HBCU students interested in career opportunities in the natural products industry. To get involved with Organic & Natural Health and its initiatives, visit https://organicandnatural.org.
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