BOULDER, Colo. — Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy has established an Integrative Health Advisory Board.

Members of the panel, all medical doctors, will contribute their expertise to help Pharmaca inform consumers, health care professionals and the media about safe, effective use of integrative medicine.

According to the pharmacy chain, integrative medicine encourages people to “fully engage in their own health and wellness” by drawing on the best practices of conventional and natural medicine to provide the “most complete healing with the minimum amount of invasive intervention.”

This holistic approach is gaining rising support from the traditional health care establishment and mainstream consumers, Pharmaca notes.

“Today more than ever, we have an opportunity to be a valuable resource to the public and the medical community by drawing attention to the benefits of integrative medicine,” says Barry Perzow, founder and chairman of Pharmaca, which has 23 drug stores in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. “Our advisory board exemplifies that integrative approach, where health practitioners can bring a diversity of therapies together to enhance the natural healing process.”

Board members include Bradly Jacobs, former founding medical director and endowed chair of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine Clinical Programs at the University of California in San Francisco; Bruce Price, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School; and Tieraona Low Dog, fellowship director at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.

Pharmaca says all are leaders in integrative medicine and their expertise reflects the diversity of its stores, where pharmacists serve with naturopathic doctors, herbalists, homeopaths and other practitioners to help customers manage their health holistically.

The board members will also contribute articles to Pharmaca’s online education center, advise its pharmacists and practitioners about the latest integrative medicine research and help shape product selection based on the latest clinical findings.