Dr. Robert Verkerk

Dr. Robert Verkerk is an internationally acclaimed expert in agricultural, environmental and health sustainability. During the course of his work over the last 28 years, he has focused on a diverse array of issues ranging from environmental protection, to reducing synthetic chemical load, to the development of natural and sustainable approaches to healthcare. In Europe, Dr Verkerk has made substantial contributions to the development of more appropriate legal and scientific frameworks for the regulation of natural products used in healthcare.

Following his first degree in ecology (University of Westminster, London), he spent some 10 years in the private sector in Australia working in the field of sustainable environmental management. He returned to the UK in 1990 and completed a Masters degree at Imperial College London (with Distinction) and continued his studies, being awarded a Doctorate in 1995. 

Dr Verkerk remained at Imperial College for a further 7 years as a postdoctoral Research Fellow and still maintains research links with the College today, through Imperial College Consultants Ltd. He has worked extensively in Australia, Africa, Central and South East Asia, and has acted as an advisor to governments and development agencies.

In 2002, he founded the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) (www.anhcampaign.org), a pan‐ European and international, non‐governmental organisation dedicated to positively shaping the scientific and regulatory framework affecting natural health approaches. Through Dr Verkerk’s leadership, as Executive & Scientific Director, the ANH has become one of the most prominent organisations working to protect and promote natural healthcare worldwide. This work has included leading an international effort to challenge disproportionate elements of European law affecting food supplements in Europe, initially in the High Court in London (2003‐ 4) and subsequently in the European Court of Justice (2004‐5) (Alliance for Natural Health and others v UK; Joined Cases C‐154/04‐155/04).