Dietary supplement company Thorne has formed a scientific advisory board (SAB) to drive innovation, elevate practitioner support, and deepen connections within the health and wellness industry.

The SAB brings together experts from health disciplines including longevity, performance, and women’s health.

The SAB will be maintained by Nathan Price, PhD, chief scientific officer at Thorne, and includes the following members:

• Laura D. Baker, PhD, professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Dr. Brent Bauer, MD, director of research of the integrative medicine program at Mayo Clinic
• Sean Gibbons, PhD, associate professor at Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)
• Vadim Gladyshev, PhD, professor at Harvard Medical School
• Jacqueline Jacques, ND, wellness industry expert and strategic advisor
• Mahtab Jafari, PharmD, director of the Center for Healthspan Sciences and professor at the University of California, Irvine
• Dr. Robert Rountree, MD, physician at Boulder Wellcare
• Dr. Sara Szal, MD, director of the precision medicine program at Jefferson Health and clinical assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson University

“The formation of Thorne’s scientific advisory board brings together a world-class group of leaders who have consistently pushed the boundaries and have had positive impacts on science and health,” said Price. “Their combined expertise, innovative thinking, and proven track record will be invaluable to Thorne as we advance our commitment to scientific rigor, innovation, and personal performance in evidence-based wellness optimization.”

About The Experts

Laura D. Baker, PhD is a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in cognitive aging and lifestyle interventions to protect brain health and prevent cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. She is the lead MPI of U.S. POINTER, the largest clinical trial conducted to date testing the effects of multidomain lifestyle interventions on 2-year cognitive trajectory in 2000 older adults at risk for cognitive decline and dementia. Baker also led the EXERT clinical trial that reported cognitive benefit following 12 months of physical exercise in 300 adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. She co-led the COSMOS-Mind trial that reported cognitive benefit with 3 years of multivitamin supplementation in a community-based sample of 2200 older adults.

Dr. Brent Bauer, MD is a director of research for the Mayo Clinic’s integrative medicine program. Since its founding in 2001, the program has promoted collaboration with researchers both within and outside of Mayo Clinic to share resources, ideas, and expertise regarding research in this field. Bauer’s personal goal is to ensure that research under this program is conducted at the same standards as all other Mayo Clinic research, to bring real, evidence-based knowledge to patients and physicians trying to incorporate conventional and complementary medicine practices.

Sean Gibbons earned his PhD in biophysics from the University of Chicago in 2015. He completed his postdoctoral work at MIT in 2018. Sean is now an associate professor at the Institute for Systems Biology, in Seattle. His lab studies the ecology and evolution of microbial communities. Gibbons is interested in how host-associated bacterial communities influence the health and wellness of the host organism. His group designs computational and wet-lab tools for studying these complex systems. Ultimately, the Gibbons Lab aims to develop strategies for engineering the ecology of the gut microbiome to improve human health.

Vadim Gladyshev, PhD, is a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and a faculty member of the Broad Institute. Gladyshev is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was also elected to AAAS, recognized as Redox Pioneer and received the Osborne and Mendel Award. He is the recipient of NIH Pioneer, Transformative and Eureka awards to study aging. Dr. Gladyshev’s lab focuses on studying aging, rejuvenation and lifespan control using a combination of experimental and computational approaches. He has published more than 450 articles.

Jacqueline Jacques, ND has over 25 years of experience in the wellness space. She has been a founder, formulator, speaker, writer, and executive in the natural products industry. As a leading consultant, advisor, and director, she helps a diverse set of clients with strategic growth. From 2014 to 2023, she held leadership roles at Thorne, including Chief Research Officer. Prior, she co-founded Bariatric Advantage, which was acquired by Metagenics in 2010. Jacqueline holds three patents and has experience in developing new technologies. She is also the author of “Micronutrition for the Weight Loss Surgery Patient,” as well as other professional publications. She holds a doctorate in naturopathic pedicine, is a fellow of the Obesity Society, and has a finance certificate from the Kelly School of Business. She also has a specialty certification in cannabis science from the University of Vermont and is active in various professional organizations.

Mahtab Jafari, PharmD is a professor of pharmaceutical sciences and founding director of the UCI Center for Healthspan Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She is a nationally board-certified health and wellness master coach. She earned her doctorate in pharmacy from the UCSF School of Pharmacy, where she completed her residency and served on the faculty. She has over 30 years of experience in basic, translational, clinical, and educational research focused on healthspan pharmacology and evidence-based wellness. She leads studies on botanicals’ effects on healthspan in animal studies; the impact of wellness and self-care courses on college students’ health; the impact of nature therapy on mental health; and the quality of dietary supplements. She authored “The Truth About Dietary Supplements: An Evidence-Based Guide to a Safer Medicine Cabinet.”

Dr. Robert Rountree, MD, received his MD in 1980 from UNC-Chapel Hill, followed by family medicine residency at the Hershey Medical Center. He began his professional career in Boulder, Colorado, at Wellspring, a multidisciplinary clinic that was one of the first integrative medicine healthcare centers in the U.S.  In 2002, he opened Boulder Wellcare, a private practice specializing in personalized healthcare consulting. Rountree has coauthored numerous books and book chapters on integrative and functional medicine. He is the long-time clinical editor and a regular columnist for Integrative and Complementary Therapies. In addition to his clinical practice, he is a founding member of the core faculty for the Institute for Functional Medicine.  Over the past three decades he has lectured all over the world to professional and public audiences.  Bob is especially passionate about systems biology, complexity theory, wild nature, and the preservation of biodiversity.

Dr. Sara Szal, MD is director of the precision medicine program at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health- Jefferson Health, and clinical assistant professor in the department of integrative medicine and nutritional sciences at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University. Her focus is at the interface of mental and physical health, N-of-1 trial design, personalized molecular profiling, use of wearables, and how to leverage these tools to improve health outcomes and promote deepening transformative experiences. Szal authored four New York Times bestselling books on innovative integrative health topics and is a global keynote speaker. Previously, she has served as a chief medical officer for a health tech company and currently is on the board of the Academy of Integrative Medicine.