Our Company

Dr. Schauss has been a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Alternative Medicine Advisory Council; the Ad Hoc Developmental Planning Committee of the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements; a reviewer of botanical standards and information monographs for the U.S. Pharmacopoeia Convention (USP); and, reviewer for the International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) database, an interagency partnership the National Agricultural Library and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

His undergraduate and doctoral degrees were earned at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and California Coast University in Santa Ana. Academic appointments have included: Director, Institute for Biosocial Research, City University, Seattle; Clinical Professor of Natural Products Research, and Adjunct Research Professor of Botanical Medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon; Senior Director, Southwest College Research Institute Scottsdale, Arizona; and Associate Professor of Research, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, Tempe, Arizona. Since 2012, he has held positions at the University of Arizona in the Department of Geosciences, College of Science, the Bio5 Institute, Office of Research, Discovery & Innovation, and Tech Launch Arizona.

A Certified Food Scientist (CFS), his professional memberships include the American Society of Toxicology, American College of Toxicology, American Society of Nutrition, International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, Society for Experimental Biology in Medicine, Society for Food Science and Technology, Fellow of the American College of Nutrition (FACN), American Chemical Society, Emeritus Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, former Chairman of the Food Policy Council of the National Council for Public Health Policy, Honorary Founding Member of the British Society of Nutritional Medicine, and Emeritus Executive Director of the American Preventive Medical Association.

Besides being a panelist on numerous Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) expert panels since 1997, he served on the Compliance and Label Integrity Committee of the National Products Association for 23 years, after which he co-authored the supplement industry’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines portions of which were incorporated into FDA’s GMP final rules. Dr. Schauss holds the trademark for Supplementology™, the scientific study of dietary supplements.

He is the author of nearly two dozen books, thirty-nine chapters and over 300 papers published in peer reviewed journals such as Atherosclerosis, Renal Failure, Experimental Gerontology, Toxicology, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology,  Food and Chemical Toxicology, International Journal of Neurology, International Journal of Toxicology, Nutrition Research, Biological Trace Element Research, Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, Journal of Medicinal Food, and the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Dr. Modica earned her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine in 2012 from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. She continues clinical practice with a focus on chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She earned a high honors Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The honors distinction was based on her published work in a basic science developmental neurobiology lab. After her research work and before attending Bastyr, she worked in high-tech and medical device companies as a consultant and business analyst.

Laura’s 30 years of experience in the natural products industry began with her sales position at the Natural Products Store, now known as Marlene’s Market & Deli, a two-time national winner of “Store of the Year” in its respective category.

Laura’s success in natural products sales attracted the attention of major national dietary supplement manufacturers. She was offered a sales position by KAL, at that time a leading U.S. dietary supplement manufacturer, and relocated to Boston. Laura so quickly and successfully built KAL’s New England territory that she was soon offered a promotion to Product Training Manager for the Naturally, Inc.

Over many years of attending natural product trade shows, Laura always made a point of attending presentations given by AIBMR Life Sciences staff. Inspired by AIBMR Life Sciences research, she applied to work for AIBMR Life Sciences and was hired in 1984 by its publications division, which included Biosocial Publications and the award-winning Life Sciences Press and eventually became the Director of Publishing. During her tenure, she was responsible for the timely publication of a quarterly, peer-reviewed scientific journal as well as many other research publications. Additionally, Laura managed Tacoma Printing Company, AIBMR’s printing division, and established accounts with major book distributors throughout North America.

From 1991 to 1995, Laura was the Operations Director for two national non-profit organizations, Citizens For Health (CFH) and the American Preventive Medical Association (APMA). Her responsibilities included office and human resources management, as well as editorial management of the organizations’ membership newsletters. In 1994, CFH achieved national recognition by winning the “Award of Excellence in Government Relations”, a Federal lobbying award given by the 25,000-member American Society of Association Executives in recognition of its role in successfully organizing national grass roots support for the hotly-contested Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which eventually passed and become law. Laura also worked with APMA to introduce the Access to Medical Freedom Act in Congress, and her leadership was recognized and awarded by the natural products industry.

In 1995, Laura became Operations Director of AIBMR’S Life Sciences Division and after three years was promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer. In these roles, Laura provides overall leadership for AIBMR’s finance department and is a key member of the company’s leadership team.