founder and president, the British Network for Functional Medicine

Alex is founder and president of the British Network for Functional Medicine, a society aimed at supporting nutritionists and doctors who work with patients to understand the root causes of their conditions, and improve them through personalised lifestyle changes.

Alex is a scientist by background, with a degree in Chemistry from Cambridge and a PhD (DPhil) in Physics from Oxford. He worked for nine years as a scientific consultant, specialising in developing medical and diagnostic devices, before retraining as a Nutritional Therapist. Alex now runs Cambridge Functional Medicine, a busy practice in the fens, and works with patients with a diverse range of conditions.

Business Development and Operations Manager, National Centre for Integrative Medicine (NCIM)

Chantal has been with NCIM for more than 5 years, and feels passionate about their vision to transform the future of healthcare to a broader, more empowered Integrative Medicine Model, which combines conventional, lifestyle, functional and holistic approaches to improve health and wellbeing. Based in Bristol, NCIM is a not-for-profit  Community Interest Company offering clinical, education, community outreach and membership services. NCIM is passionate about making integrative healthcare accessible, offering both patient and education bursaries, as well as fundraising to offer free to access community courses, and running a free monthly webinar series.

As a social enterprise we want to support the movement for change in healthcare to support clinicians, clients and communities.  Education services include our 2-3 year accredited masters Level 7 Diploma in Integrative Healthcare, our online Discovery course in Integrative Medicine, one-off teaching days known as our Integrative Healthcare Forums, as well as running Student Choice Placements with medical undergraduates and offering Wellbeing at Work programmes.

Lactation Consultant, The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative

WBTi is a collaborative initiative to assess and monitor key breastfeeding policies and programmes (WBTi indicators), all drawn from the WHO Global Strategy and the Innocenti Declaration. It was launched by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in 2004.

The first WBTi UK report was launched in Parliament on 15 November 2016.  https://ukbreastfeeding.org  see UK Team here.  Currently over 100 countries are participating in the WBTi; the latest global report and details are available online, including the European 18-country report 2020.  Each report lists gaps and recommendations for each indicator to trigger “Actions” that improve support for breastfeeding in that country.

Mothers and babies need the full network of support that is measured by the WBTi.

Follow the news and discussion on Twitter @wbtiUK and on our Facebook page.

Elaine began her career in the field of psychology. Her interest in complementary therapies lead to subsequent studies in osteopathy, naturopathy and acupuncture. Following her interest in acupuncture Elaine spent time working in hospitals in China.

Elaine is interested in many aspects of health and well-being. She has combined her time working in the Health Spa environment and hospitals. Her focus is on health promotion and designing wellness programmes for spas, notably The Gut Health Programme for Grayshott spa.

Additionally, Elaine has spent time working in paediatrics at the charity The Osteopathic Cente For Children . A particular interest was tongue tie as an impediment to breastfeeding.

Clinical Nutritionist, Physical & Mental Health Coach, Author

Stephanie has worked in the natural health field for over 30 years as a self-employed natural health therapist, clinical nutritionist, author and health coach. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Medicine and a Masters degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy, plus a long history as a multi-disciplinary physical therapist and fitness coach, she combines all skill sets to help people with many kinds of health issues, both physical and psychological with a prevention-first focus.

Stephanie conducts one-to-one nutritional therapy clinics in Surrey and Online offering a comprehensive assessment of her patients’ health issues to then provide detailed, personalised health protocols. With specialist interest in digestive health and the effect of the gut microbiome on  metabolic, hormonal and mental health conditions, Stephanie works with numerous GPs supporting treatment plans for challenging cases with eating disorders, metabolic chronic disease and cancer, both pre, during and post treatment.

For 9 years Stephanie was head of nutrition at Grayshott Medical Spa and clinical lead for the 7-day digestive health regime that she co-developed in 2012. Her gut health protocol is the inspiration behind GutGastronomy, a cookbook based on her gut healing philosophy. Since the closing of Grayshott Medical Spa in November 2020, Stephanie has relocated the health programme to Goodwood Estate, where it is now run as a 5 day, fully immersive experience at the Goodwood hotel and spa.

Stephanie contributes to various health publications; is often featured in the media as a health expert; she published her first book in 2017 called ‘Why Eating Less & Exercising More Makes You Fat!’, which explains why conventional weight loss advice fails and what to do instead to achieve permanent health and weight loss goals. She has also co-authored a book on Super-Foods with doctor of biochemistry and health campaigner, Dr James DiNicolantonio, and following her recent training in Nutritional Neuroscience, has written her soon to be published latest book ‘Eat Your Brain Happy’, which focuses on the critical role of gut health, food, sleep, exercise and other factors known to directly influence the health of the brain.

Stephanie has also recently embarked on a degree in canine nutrition and well-being, bringing together her love of dogs and health.