About the Author

Michael Evers has a diversity of experience handling legal issues in the health care industry for more than 30 years. As a young attorney, he gained notoriety representing health care professionals facing prosecution for using methods deemed “unorthodox” or “unconventional” by state medical boards. He was commissioned in 1987 by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to prepare a report on the legal constraints facing physicians and patients who opt for treatment alternatives outside conventional medicine.

Sensing that state and federal laws needed to be changed to accommodate such practices, Michael turned to lobbying and persuaded Congress to create an Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in 1992. He then led the national grassroots campaign to elevate that office to become the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1999. He currently monitors NCCAM’s $130 million budget, and promotes public awareness of its research agenda.

Michael also served as national legislative director for the Nutritional Health Alliance, the grassroots effort organized to oppose the Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements in the early 1990s. That lobbying effort culminated in passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

Michael published What We Know About Nutrition and Alzheimer’s Disease in 1998 and Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease with Natural Therapeutics in 2007. Both reports were distributed widely to encourage policymakers to devote more resources to prevention of Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Anti-Alzheimer’s Action Guide presents the most up-to-date evidence supporting the paradigm shift in favor of prevention strategies including diet, exercise, brain fitness, and sound sleep.

Michael has served as a consultant to television and film producers, hosted events on Capitol Hill and the Kennedy Center for Members of Congress, and authored or published several books and papers dealing with access to complementary and alternative medicine. He has appeared on dozens of radio and television programs, including ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today Show.