Dr Carol Granger, DProf MSc MRSB CBiol FBANT
Dr Carol Granger is the Co Chair of RCCM. Carol is a practicing nutritional therapist and herbalist with an honours degree in biochemistry and a Master’s in microbiology. She has been a Chartered Biologist since 1986 and had two decades of experience in bioscience research, diagnostics and medical technology before a career change to nutritional therapy.
Her doctorate in health sciences from the University of Westminster involved researching nutritional therapy practice for people with cancer. Carol is committed to evidence-based practice, professional regulation and advancing standards in nutritional therapy. She is Chair of the Nutritional Therapy Education Commission (NTEC) which accredits nutritional therapy courses that train to the National Occupational Standard (NOS).
Carol has published papers on intravenous therapy, parenteral nutrition, human tissue banking, non-surgical management of ascites, as well as a patent in intensive care technology. Her recent papers have explored professional regulation and nutritional therapy practice. She is a member of the Nutrition Society, a chartered member of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Dr Ava Lorenc
Dr Ava Lorenc is the Co Chair and the administrative assistant for RCCM. Ava obtained a BSc in complementary therapies at the University of Westminster in 2005 and completed her PhD in 2010 on children’s use of traditional and complementary approaches to health and primary care providers views of CAM. She has been working in CAM research for 20 years. Ava is based at the University of Bristol, doing qualitative research in clinical trials. Ava is also Editor in Chief of EuJIM, and member of the scientific advisory board for the National Centre for Integrative Medicine.
John Hughes PhD, BSc (Hons), Lic. Ac.
Dr John Hughes is the Director of Research for the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, UCLH NHS Trust. He is also Visiting Fellow within the Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, University of Southampton, and works closely with the World Health Organisation on the subject of traditional medicine.
John has an interdisciplinary programme of mixed methods research centred on patients’ experiences of chronic illness and the alleviation of symptoms using self-management approaches and non-pharmacological interventions. The programme of research has received over one million pounds in funding, and includes awards from the National Institute for Health Research and World Health Organisation. The research has been disseminated in over 50 peer reviewed academic publications.
Patti Williams
After spending over 35 years in the Financial Services Industry, managing company secretarial, administration, accounting and compliance matters, Patti now provides business and financial consultancy services to organisations mainly in the charity sector.
Lianne Marie Aquilina
Lianne has an interest in clinical healthcare practice, research and academia. With a Master of Science in Health Research, she combines a multifaceted skill-set to respond to pressing healthcare issues. She is a guest lecturer on the topic of Critical Appraisal of Research in Healthcare. A MSc Research Supervisor for the Online Global Master’s Advanced Oriental Medicine: Research and Practice. She has a BSc Hons in Complementary Medicine, specialisation Acupuncture.
A background in dental nursing (National Certificate) and promoting effective communication (NVQ 3). Lianne is on the research governing board for the Acupuncture Now Foundation (USA) and a trustee for the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM). She has an interest in quantitative and qualitative research design and analysis as well as promoting research mindfulness.
Karen Charlesworth
Karen qualified as an acupuncturist in 2013, since which time she has run a busy private practice and a popular multibed community clinic. Her research interests include complementary therapies in humanitarian aid, complex intervention research, and research methodologies for complementary therapies. She is the research director of the Northern College of Acupuncture in York.
Karen was awarded her PhD in 2024 at the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York for the NIHR portfolio-adopted trial “Sessions of Acupuncture and Nutritional Therapy Evaluation for Atrial Fibrillation: a feasibility study” which she ran within the York Trials Unit, (ISRCTN13671984; in press).