ENDOBIOGENIC
MEDICINE
SOCIETY
About the Endobiogenic Medicine Society (EMS)
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The Endobiogenic Medicine Society (EMS) was created by Anna Betz, Paul Michael and Colin Nicholls to bring awareness of endobiogenic medicine to the UK and to provide information, organize events and offer a training platform both to the public and to medical professionals. All three are medical herbalists who have been training with Dr Lapraz and Dr Hedayat (see below) for many years. Their interest in endobiogenic medicine was borne from the fact that this clinical medicine model is based on treatment strategies that use primarily phytotherapy (medicinal herbs or botanicals), nutrition and lifestyle changes. More important, endobiogenic medicine gave them tools to tackle the underlying causes of “dis-ease”, and a systematic way of approaching an individual in his or her expression of such “dis-ease” - things that were lacking in the conventional medical model in which they were trained.
Aside from providing information, events and training to the public and to medical professionals, EMS’s main aims are to educate the public in order to foster self-responsibility for health (which comes from a better understanding of one's body) and to provide access to alternative treatment options for the increasingly complex health conditions of our times.
Endobiogenic Medicine founders and developers
Christian Duraffourd MD was a French medical doctor and co-developer, along with Jean-Claude Lapraz MD, of what is now known as endobiogenic medicine, and previously as clinical phytotherapy. Dr Duraffourd was a consultant with Dr Lapraz in the General Surgery and Oncology Department of the Hôpital Boucicaut in Paris from 1989 to1996, where clinical phytotherapy was included as part of cancer treatment for more than seven years. Central to Duraffourd's work was his study of the therapeutic action of medicinal plants, taking into account traditional use as well as pharmacological and clinical data. Observations derived from thousands of case studies gave rise to theoretical and applied research in the field of biology, and contributed to the
development of the Biology of Functions – a series of indexes, derived from a simple blood test, that gives vital information about the terrain (or endobiogeny) of an individual patient.
Dr Duraffourd worked with Dr Lapraz for most of his career, and they co-authored most of their publications on topics related to endobiogenic medicine. Their research work was conducted in parallel with - and indeed based on - their practice as general practitioners.
Jean-Claude Lapraz MD is a French medical doctor and co-developer, with Christian Duraffourd MD, of endobiogenic medicine. Drs Duraffourd and Lapraz have been developing this model since the early 1970s, and Dr Lapraz has spent the last 30 or so years training medical practitioners in endobiogenic medicine as well as rigorously testing the therapeutic capabilities of medicinal plants in a clinical setting, both in private practice and in hospital care. As well as working with Dr Duraffourd in cancer care at the Hôpital Boucicaut in Paris from 1989 to1996, he has also worked with Pasteur Institute researchers and at other leading institutions worldwide, applying endobiogenic medicine to a range of medical challenges from
fibromyalgia to cholera and leprosy. Dr Lapraz participated in the creation of the National Diploma of Clinical Phytotherapy in France in 1982, and has helped set up clinical training both in France and abroad, including in Belgium, Spain, the UK, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, the Ivory Coast, Tunisia and the United States. He has worked in close collaboration with official bodies (including the Ministry of Health and the European Parliament) since 1977, participating in several ministerial commissions and drawing up a report on the state of phytotherapy in France for the Ministry of Health in 1985.
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Dr Lapraz has taught in universities worldwide, has carried out clinical research, hospital trials, and studies and evaluations of botanical medicine, and has written numerous articles and books on phytotherapy and endobiogenic medicine, mostly in collaboration with Dr Duraffourd. A selection of articles in English can be found under Resources.
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Dr Lapraz is Honorary President of the Endobiogenic Medicine Society.
Kamyar M. Hedayat MD is the president and founder of the American Society of Endobiogenic Medicine and Integrative Physiology. He is the co-developer of international training programmes in endobiogenic medicine, and is active in research in integrative physiology. Dr Hedayat is medical director of Full Spectrum Health, an endobiogeny medical centre in Chicago, Illinois. He was trained at Stanford University in pediatric critical care medicine, and was founder and director of an integrative paediatric intensive care unit. He has been working with Dr Lapraz, co-developer of the endobiogenic teachings, since 1997.
EMS founders
Colin Nicholls is President of the Endobiogenic Medicine Society. He is a medical herbalist with over 25 years’ experience, and is a member of one of the main professional organisations for medical herbalists in the UK, the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP). He has studied endobiogeny/clinical phytotherapy with Dr Jean-Claude Lapraz since the 1990s, and from 2000 to 2010 arranged regular seminars with Dr Lapraz in London, introducing the endobiogenic approach to the UK. He was a co-founder of the British Journal of Phytotherapy, serving as Editor from 1991 to 1998. At present he is Programme Leader of the MSc/PGDip Professional Practice in Herbal Medicine programme at Middlesex University. He has long
had an interest in the influence of breathing on health, and is registered with the Buteyko Breathing Association as a qualified Buteyko instructor.
Anna Betz is a member of one of the professional governing bodies for qualified medical herbalists in the UK, the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP). Since graduating from the School of Phytotherapy in Tunbridge Wells in 1991, she has practised as a medical herbalist both in the UK and abroad. She has studied Ayurvedic medicine with Dr Ashwin Barot, and worked for six years as a community herbalist in Northern Cyprus, where she published a monthly health column and wrote many articles about the use of local herbs and foods. For the last 10 years she has studied and practised systemic and evolutionary approaches to health. These continue to enrich and deepen her practice as a herbalist, mental health professional and coach.
Besides offering private consultations, she also works in GP practices, where she facilitates regular sessions for patients suffering from preventable diseases such as diabetes, pre-diabetes and other insulin-metabolism-related disorders. She is an advocate and practitioner of the co-production of health, and has led workshops with Living Medicine, which aims to re-skill us all in our use of food and herbs for everyday healthcare, sharing knowledge across cultures.
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In the NHS she also works as a lead practitioner in dementia, and is pioneering a successful interactive 'brainfood project'. This helps patients and their carers to learn how to optimise brain health and how to prevent or slow down cognitive decline and dementia.
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Anna Betz is trained in systemic family therapy, narrative approaches, constellation work, and Transparent Communication. She also trained as a mindfulness teacher at Bangor University. Systems thinking, and its application in her life practice and healing work, is her primary focus.
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Paul Michael BA,BSc,MCPP is head of education for the endobiogenic medicine society UK. He is a medical herbalist, practitioner of endobiogenic medicine and a qualified Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) therapist. Paul is a first-class graduate of the BSc in Herbal Medicine programme at Middlesex University, and a member of one of the main professional organisations for medical herbalists in the UK, the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP). He has trained for over 7 years with Dr Jean-Claude Lapraz, and in his practice uses the endobiogenic approach in conjunction with classical herbal medicine. Paul is the director of Health Matters London Ltd. a health store, herbal pharmacy and clinic in North London. He has been practising herbal and endobiogenic medicine since 2009.
Paul Michael has written articles for Positive Health Magazine, and has hosted a series of radio talk shows focusing on the approach of modern herbal medicine in the treatment of disease. He is the author of ‘Treating Digestive Disorders from an Endobiogenic Perspective: An Innovative System of Plant Medicine’.
Paul is involved in the teaching of endobiogenic medicine in the UK and is one of the founders of the Endobiogenic Medicine Society of the UK (EMS). He has also trained in the traditional Chinese internal healing arts of Qigong and Tai Chi and has a very strong interest in mind–body medicine.