Kevin Spelman, PhD

Dr. Kevin Spelman is an internationally recognized expert on the molecular biology and clinical therapeutics of botanical medicines and new product development. A past National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow and Marie Curie research fellow in the European Union, he has published 29 scientific papers and six chapters.

Dr. Spelman also practiced clinical phytotherapy for 20 years in various medical centers in the US and abroad, and advised the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine under the Clinton administration.

He was also an invitee at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy conference on the microbiome under the Obama administration. 

Dr. Spelman earned a PhD in biology from University of Exeter, focusing on molecular techniques to elucidate the activity of various phytochemicals influencing human physiology. 

Past research projects have included the molecular biology of cannabinoid receptors, in which he was the first researcher to demonstrate cannabinoid ligands in Zanthoxylum spp., as well as brain and ovarian cancer, clinical investigations, immunological studies, and chemical analysis on multiple medicinal plants.

International research has included the analysis of nutrient levels in teenage women in West Africa, working with children with neurological disorders in Central America and researching medicinal plants active against malaria in Paris. 

Dr. Spelman has been an adjunct assistant professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, an adjunct professor of botanical medicine at National College of Natural Medicine, and a distinguished lecturer at Maryland University of Integrative Health. 

He has considerable experience in medicinal plant, nutraceutical and cannabinoid research, and has coordinated new product development, analytical and QC guidelines, research activity, and educational curricula for industry and universities over the last 30 years. 

Dr. Spelman is also a member of the prestigious College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy in the UK. 

Dr. Kevin Spelman’s next live continuing education course: Immune Building After Disease and Stress hosted live with internal medicine physician and co-author of The South Beach Diet: Keto, Judi Woolger, MD, FACP, and licensed pharmacist, naturopath, herbalist and diplomate in nutrition, Dr. Lynn Lafferty.

Instructor for Immune and Body Detective