Scientific Advisory Board
Nutritional Science Research Institute

NSRI is comprised of a dedicated team of researchers and medical professionals committed to providing consumers with the latest information on nutritional supplements and the many benefits of their use.

Jack F. Bukowski, MD, PhD is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Nutritional Science Research Institute (NSRI). Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Dedicated to the study of the human immune system for the over 30 years, Dr. Bukowski began his research career in 1974, while still an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University. He continued his research throughout the years, first a trainee, then ultimately as faculty member at Harvard Medical School. In late 2001, Dr. Bukowski, although still maintaining a part time research post at Harvard, left the university to accept a full-time position as a medical director in the pharmaceutical industry. It was there that he discovered that a partnership between academia and industry was the key to successfully achieving substantial advances in immunology.

In late 2005, Dr. Bukowski resigned his full-time post to become a founding member of NSRI. This decision was based on widespread encouragement from colleagues, business partners, friends and family to incorporate his impressive immunology research discoveries into developing products to promote better health.

Dr. Bukowski’s primary focus has been on a part of the immune system called the innate immune system, which makes people naturally resistant to disease. Without vaccinations or being exposed to a disease, our innate immune system somehow possess the ability to prevent us from getting sick with colds, flu, other infections, and cancer. Dr. Bukowski has spent the majority of his career researching this part of the immune system and the specific factors that cause some people’s innate immune systems to function better than others.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, while studying how the innate immune system is activated, his laboratory discovered, quite by accident, that certain molecules found in the diet can significantly boost innate immunity. It was determined that nutrients found in certain foods and beverages, especially tea, could actually induce our innate immune systems to fight off cancer more effectively, as well as battle the viruses, bacteria, and parasites that cause colds, flu, and other infections. This monumental discovery led to a renowned study, published in 2003, proving that drinking five to six cups per day of tea boosts, by 500 to 1500%, the ability of an innate immune system component to make interferon gamma. Interferon gamma enables the elimination of virus, bacteria, and parasites that cause illness such as colds, flu, pneumonia, and diarrhea, and have also been found to kill cancer cells.

Dr. Bukowski has authored over 100 research articles, abstracts, and review articles. He has been a reviewer for many scientific journals, and has been on study sections for the NIH and Arthritis Foundation. He is a practicing rheumatologist.

DOUGLAS L. ARCHER, Ph.D. Professor and Associate Dean for Research Food Science and Human Nutrition Department Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Dr. Archer received a B.A. degree in Zoology in 1968 and a M.S. degree in Bacteriology in 1970 from the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology in 1973 from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Archer was appointed Professor and Chair, Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, on January 1, 1994.  The Department has thirty-seven faculty and has program foci in nutritional sciences, food science, and dietetics.  He stepped down as Chair on January 1, 2001 to return to the faculty.  He was selected to be an Associate Dean for Research, UF/IFAS in February, 2006.

Prior to his arrival at UF, Dr. Archer served as Deputy Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he was charged with oversight of the research, regulatory and policy activities of all foods and cosmetic programs including food additives, food labeling, special nutritionals, seafood, and cosmetics and colors.

During his career with FDA, Dr. Archer was a Commissioned Officer in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) and was appointed Assistant Surgeon General in July 1990.  Furthermore, he received numerous awards including three Meritorious Service Medals, and the Distinguished Service Medal. He retired from the USPHS on January 1, 1994. Non-government awards include the J. C. Frazier Memorial Award from the University of Wisconsin in 1992, and the Ivan Parkin Lectureship in 2005 for the International Association for Food Protection.  

From 1984 until his retirement in 1994, Dr. Archer served as Chairman of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Hygiene, and since 1990, has been a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Food Safety.  Other international activities include:  U.S. Representative to the International Standards Organization, and U. S. Technical Negotiator with the European Community.  He is the past U. S. Associate Editor for Food Control (Currently an Editorial Board member), and member of the Advisory Board of the Academic Press Nutrition and Food Science Publications.  He is a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and serves on the Board of Directors of that organization.  He is currently a member of the IFT Global Policy and Regulations, and is the subject expert for that Committee on Food Hygiene.

Susan S. Percival, PhD is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Her educational background includes a Master’s of Science degree from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin.  She did postdoctoral research in the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Texas A&M University. From 1978 to 1981 she was tenure track faculty at the University of Rhode Island prior to an educational leave to pursue her doctorate.  She recently came back from a sabbatical leave at the National Institutes of Health with the Nutritional Sciences Research Group at the National Cancer Institute. At the University of Florida, she was Undergraduate Coordinator for over 700 undergraduate students from 1994 to 2002.  She currently teaches a course on Dietary Supplements and a course on Nutrition and Immunity.

Dr. Fung-Lung Chung, MD, PhD is currently a senior faculty member of the Department of Oncology at Georgetown University, providing service as a member of the LCCC Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology Program. Before joining Georgetown University Medical Center, Dr. Chung was the Chief of Division of Carcinogenesis and Molecular Epidemiologist and the Program Leader of Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis at the American Health Foundation Cancer Center (a NCI-designated Laboratory Cancer Center) of the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, New York. He conducted research at the American Health Foundation Cancer Center for 23 years. Dr. Chung has served on various NIH Scientific Review Committees and was a regular member of the NIH Chemical Pathology Study Section (1990-94) He was a member of the Senior Advisory Board of the Institute for Cancer Prevention (1995-2004). He also served as a Program Leader of the Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis Program in the AHF Cancer Center.

Derrick M. DeSilva Jr., M.D. is a practicing Internist at the Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, NJ. As an adjunct professor at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ, Dr. DeSilva Jr. has lectured on various topics in medicine, nationally and internationally, and is an avid member of the following associations: • The American Medical Association • The American Diabetes Association • The American Heart Association • The Society of Internal Medicine • President of the American Nutraceutical Association • Vice-President of Medical Spa Professional Alliance

R. Mimi Secor, MS, M.Ed, FNP-BC, FAANP, is President Emerita and Senior Advisor for Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education (NPACE) in Natick, Massachusetts, and Visiting Scholar at Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing. Ms Secor is a nurse practitioner, national speaker and consultant providing educational programs to consumers and advanced practice clinicians around the country. She is dedicated to disease prevention, through healthy life style choices and complimentary approaches.

Ms Secor is a Visiting Scholar at Boston College, a Guest Lecturer at Mass General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and lectures at other NP programs in New England, US & Canada

 For 12 years Ms Secor owned and operated an independent practice (Nurse Practitioner Associates) for 12 years in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Ms. Secor earned her Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts in 1995 and her Master’s Degree in Education from Antioch University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1979

She is a member of many professional organizations including the National Honor Society - Sigma Theta Tau, AANP, ACNP, ANA, MARN, MCNP (a founder), ARHP, NPWH, American Women’s Medical Association (AWMA) and is a founding board member of the newly formed, American College of Clinicians (ACC) a National Organization for NPs/PAs

Ms Secor has received several awards (in Patient Care and Education), has published numerous articles and book chapters and is a Former Syndicated Radio Host of weekly show, Hot Topics in Women’s Health. Additional media experience has included numerous radio, TV and newspaper/magazine interviews including Good Morning America, WBZ in Boston, local radio stations across the country, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Bridal Guide, Cosmo Girl, and other national magazines. 

Her interests include prevention of illness, infectious diseases, women’s health and NP/PA professional issues.