Advisory Committee
Annemarie Colbin, PhD
Founder, CEO – The Natural Gourmet Institute
Dr Annemarie Colbin, an award-winner teacher, lecturer, writer, and consultant, is a pioneer in the field of natural health. In 1977 she founded the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City. The NGI for Health and Culinary Arts offers a Chef’s Training Program for careers in the health-supportive culinary arts. It’s associated Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health offers short classes for the general public.
Dr Colbin has authored four books: The Book of Whole Meals (Ballentine, 1983), The Natural Gourmet (Ballentine, 1991), and Food and Healing (Ballentine, 1986, 1996), (published also in Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Bulgarian, and Czech). All three books are still in print, and have sold more than 350,000 copies. Her latest book is The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (New Harbinger, 2009). Many of the classes at NGI are based on her published works.
In addition, she writes a regular column for Free Spirit Magazine on “Food and Your Health”, and has written numerous other articles on the subject of healing with food. Many of those articles have been published in Spain and the UK. She produced an instructional videotape (now DVD), “Basics of Healthy Cooking,” (1986), which the New York Times called “encyclopedic – a must for every health conscious kitchen.”
A popular speaker, Dr Colbin has appeared on countless radio and television programs. She leads workshops in such well-known institutions as The New York Open Center and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She was adjunct professor of nutrition at Empire State College where she taught a course in Wholistic Nutrition every spring for 7 years. At the Natural Gourmet, Dr Colbin continues to teach a number of classes, including her ever-popular “Principles of Balance” course. Her 100-hour course on “Food Therapy,” one weekend a month for 9 months, for has been offered to health professionals since 2006. She offers nutritional and wellness consultations to the general public through the NGI.
Dr Colbin earned her 2002 Ph.D. in Wholistic Nutrition through the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. The recipient of the 1986 Maharishi Award, the 1987 Pacesetter award in Education from the Roundtable for Women in Foodservice, and the 1993 Women of Enterprise Award from Avon and the Small Business Administration, Dr Colbin is widely known and well regarded both in the US and abroad for her ongoing efforts to elucidate the relationship between food and our individual health.
Shanti Norris
Co-Founder and Executive Director – Smith Farm Center
Ms. Norris serves as Executive Director of Smith Farm Center. She initiated the Smith Farm Center hospital Artist-in-Residence program and Healing Arts Gallery. She runs the weeklong retreats for people with cancer, and oversees new initiatives, including the Faith-based Community Navigation project at Smith Farm Center. Former Vice President of Kent Homeopathic Associates, she has an extensive background in complementary medicine and mind-body approaches to healing. She has taught meditation, yoga philosophy and stress reduction for over 35 years and underwent a formal ten-year mentorship with a renowned yoga master. She is a three-term member of CARRA, the patient advocacy program at the National Cancer Institute and a graduate of Project LEAD from the National Breast Cancer Coalition. She is a graduate of the Georgetown University Non-profit Leadership certificate course and the James P. Shannon Leadership Institute in Minneapolis/St Paul. She is a former board member of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare and Chaired their Annual Conference in 2004. She is a founding board member of The Art Connection in the Capital Region and a founding member of Arts in Healthcare Advocates (AHA.) She is a frequent speaker on the healing power of the arts. Her formal art training began at New York University and The Cooper Union in New York City and includes running the fine art studio of artist Peter Max. She is a member of ArtTable, the mother of three adult children, and is a painter and sculptor.