Dr. Dennis Clark, research scientist, explains how to tell good science from bad science, and why your health depends on knowing the difference. Belly fat, arthritis, shingles, digestion, and more.

 

Thanks for taking a peek at this page to check me out!

This gives me a chance to give you more of a friendly hello and to welcome to the lair of a research scientist (me). I've provided some formal information about my background below. Meanwhile, I want you to know that scientists generally don't communicate with the public, and, when we do, it isn't usually very well. This is really too bad, since most of us depend on taxpayer dollars to pay for our research, and yet those same taxpayers (you) rarely get to find out or even understand what we do.

My intention, however, is to buck this trend and explain some science that is important for your health. You and I are both fortunate that my wife, Eve, graciously edits what I write before I post it for the public. This means that whenever she asks the killer question, *What in the world are you talking about?*, then I know that my communication is too heavy on *science-ese* and not very clear enough with real English. If anything you see here is still too confusing or incomplete for you, just zap me an email and let me know.

My Views on Good vs. Bad Science

In my career-long endeavor to conduct my own high-quality laboratory research, I have all too often come across published articles of less than stellar science. You are at the mercy of such bad science, especially when it gets into newspapers and magazines, as it often does.

So stay tuned to this site and read as much of it as you can. I promise to provide you with the best information that I can find, based on good science, that will help you decide what you want to do to be as healthy as you can. Oh, and by the way, I will also point out some real stinkers in health science when they come up, too. In my opinion it is just as important to know about the Dark Side of Medicine, so you can avoid it, as it is to know what is truly based on good science.

My Professional Background and Experience

(I got the idea for writing in the 3rd person from professional athletes...how do you like it?)

Dr. Clark holds a B.A. in biological sciences from Sacramento State College and a Ph.D. in plant chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a leading expert on plant natural products chemistry and integrative medicine. He was a professor of plant biology and integrative medicine at Arizona State University for nearly 30 years and is currently an adjunct professor at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. He has also been a guest professor at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He has taught university courses in plant biology, integrative medicine, plant chemistry and pharmacognosy, ethnopharmacology, medical botany, and advanced laboratory methods in plant chemistry. Dr. Clark is the author of a college-level textbook on botany as well as books on probiotics and on botanical medicine. He has received grants for his work from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His research has focused mainly on various aspects of plant chemistry, particularly on the class of natural products called flavonoids or bioflavonoids.