LEHI, Utah, Jan. 8, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc. (Nasdaq: NATR ), a leading natural health and wellness company engaged in the manufacture and direct sale of premium-quality nutritional and personal care products, today announced that Hani Charles Soudah, M.D., Ph.D., of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., has joined Nature's Sunshine Products' ("NSP") Medical and Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Soudah is a doctor of internal medicine with a medical practice in St. Louis. He is an expert in the field of obesity management. His service on the Advisory Board will include assisting with research activities, educating and training NSP and Synergy Worldwide distributors, and speaking at various company events.
"We have already been the recipients of Dr. Soudah's expertise and research, and we look forward to building an even stronger working relationship with him," said Gregory L. Probert, Nature's Sunshine Products' Chairman and CEO. "We are pleased to have him join our growing Medical and Scientific Advisory Board."
Dr. Matt Tripp, NSP's Chief Scientific Officer, added, "Dr. Soudah has been instrumental in the recent NSP product launches of AnxiousLess® and Equolibrium™. His preliminary research with our AnxiousLess formula proved fundamental to the company gaining a solid understanding of how this unique product supports mood and situational anxiety. I believe Dr. Soudah's knowledge will be of tremendous benefit as NSP continues to create new, effective products in the future."
Dr. Soudah has spent many years in specialized research and training, including studying the effects of gut peptides on gastrointestinal motility (University of Michigan Hospitals) and the contamination of cholinergic insecticidal substances, i.e. DDT of maternal milk and its effects on the growth and development of infants (University of Hamburg, Germany). His research has been published in several prestigious scientific journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology , The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and more. He has presented his findings all over the United States and in Germany and Belgium.
Dr. Soudah currently serves as an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine for Washington University School of Medicine and is the Visiting Associate Professor at Nanjing University Medical School.
Dr. Soudah did his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine. Prior to that, he did a post-graduate research fellowship in the Division of Gastroenterology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He did rotating internships in Medicine and Surgery at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and Altona General Hospital in Hamburg, Germany, where he had previously earned his undergraduate degree. Dr. Soudah also holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from the School of Medicine at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
"I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Nature's Sunshine Products over the past two years and believe they are creating some ground-breaking health supplements," Soudah said. "I look forward to adding my expertise to the mix. I am confident that we will do great things working together to discover new support for occasional health issues."
About Nature's Sunshine Products
Nature's Sunshine Products (Nasdaq: NATR ), a leading natural health and wellness company, markets and distributes nutritional and personal care products through a global direct sales force of over 680,000 independent Managers, Distributors and customers in more than 40 countries. Nature's Sunshine manufactures most of its products through its own state-of-the-art facilities to ensure its products continue to set the standard for the highest quality, safety and efficacy on the market today. The Company has three reportable business segments that are divided based on the characteristics of their Distributor base, similarities in compensation plans, as well as the internal organization of NSP's officers and their responsibilities (NSP Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe; NSP Russia, Central and Eastern Europe; and Synergy WorldWide). The Company also supports health and wellness for children around the world through its partnership with the Sunshine Heroes Foundation. Additional information about the Company can be obtained at its website, www.naturessunshine.com .
Steve Bunker Chief Financial Officer Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc. Lehi, Utah 84043 (801) 341-7303
