About Our
Foundation

As an entrepreneur and creator of sound business partnerships, Richard has been highly influential in the success of the renowned Weil brand.

Prior to joining Dr. Weil, Mr. Baxter was and still remains the president of the Executive Consulting Group. From 1984 to 1999, he provided management consulting services for the growth and profitability of over 300 companies. Earlier in his career Mr. Baxter was a professional tennis coach and manager in the sporting industry.

Mr. Baxter currently serves on the boards of Weil Lifestyle, LLC and the Weil Foundation. He is also a past president of the Southern Arizona Tennis Association and has served on the Board of the Southwestern Tennis Association.

He is a graduate of a specially-designed mini-MBA program conducted at Darden Business School of the University of Virginia.

Mr. Baxter currently resides with his family in Tucson, Arizona.

He graduated from Brown University in 1972 and from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1977. After completing an Internal Medicine residency at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco, he became a fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the UCSF Cancer Research Institute in 1980.

During his fellowship, Dr. Abrams spent eight months working in the retrovirology laboratory of Harold Varmus, M.D. during the time that the first cases of AIDS were being diagnosed. He subsequently returned to the clinical arena where he was one of the original clinician/investigators to recognize many of the early AIDS-related conditions. He conducted numerous clinical trials investigating conventional as well as complementary therapies in patients with HIV including therapeutic touch, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions, medicinal mushrooms, medical marijuana and distant healing.

His interest in botanical therapies led him to pursue a two-year Fellowship in the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona which he completed in December 2004. His particular passion in the field involves nutrition and cancer. Since completing his Fellowship, Dr. Abrams has been providing Integrative Medicine consultation to people living with and beyond cancer at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine where he served as Director of Clinical Programs from August 2006 to December 2008.

He has returned to clinical investigation in integrative oncology with interests in medicinal mushrooms, Traditional Chinese Medicine interventions and nutrition. He co-edited an Oxford University Press textbook in Integrative Oncology with Andrew Weil, M.D.. He is a member of the NCI PDQ CAM Editorial Board. Dr. Abrams was President of the Society of Integrative Oncology in 2010.

Practiced as Certified Public Accountant for almost six years with the Accounting firm of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in Los Angeles, California, developing an expertise in real estate. Since 1973, he has syndicated approximately 100 limited partnerships acquiring and disposing of in excess of $1,000,000,000 in real estate. He has owned and operated in excess of 18,000 apartments; 500,000 ft. of shopping centers; 5 hotels totaling 948 rooms; approximately 850,000 square feet of office buildings; a golf course and in excess of 2,000 acres of land and has converted in excess of 700 apartments into condominiums.

In addition to the real estate investments, other significant investments include a national mail order company located in Cleveland, Ohio, a bank holding company, contact lens manufacturer, both located in Phoenix, Arizona and an auto dealership located in Santa Barbara, California.

A position she has held since February, 2009. Ms. Myers oversees the Company’s global innovation initiatives and is also responsible for implementing environmental sustainability and social responsibility efforts through brands, global affiliates, facilities, and corporate departments.

Ms. Myers is a proven leader in innovation, with more than 30 years experience in the Company. Prior to her current role, Ms. Myers was Global President of Origins, where she co-founded the brand and led the launch of the groundbreaking Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins and Origins Organic collections.

Other positions within the Company included senior management roles at Aveda, co-founder of BeautyBank and time with Aramis, where she was responsible for the introduction of several initiatives, including Lab Series Skincare for Men.

A summa cum laude graduate of Hunter College in New York, Ms. Myers holds a B.A. Degree in French and Italian Literature. She is a member of both the Fashion Group International and Cosmetics Executive Women. She has developed programs to raise funds for several not-for-profit initiatives, including Project Sunshine, which provides free services and programs to children living with medical challenges, on whose board she sits as a Director, and the Integrative Therapies Program for Children with Cancer, in the Division of Pediatrics Oncology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She is also a Director on the board of The Weil Foundation, which supports the advancement of integrative medicine through training, research, education and policy reform.

She was co-chair of the Task Force that developed a Climate Action Plan for the city of Chicago, and is a member of the Green Ribbon Committee. She served as a co-chair of the Council on Global Affairs study group on Chicago’s global future.

Mrs. Simmons was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for a decade, overseeing grants of over $175 million a year, including an annual $25 million program for Chicago. The foundation’s international programs focus on the environment, population, international peace and security, understanding inequality within and among nations and climate change.

Mrs. Simmons is currently on the Board of Marsh and McLennan Companies, and a number of non-profit organizations, including the Field Museum, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Economic Club of Chicago, Demos and The American Prospect, the Synergos Institute, the Weil Foundation, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. She served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Redesign Initiative.

She served on President Carter’s Commission on World Hunger and President Bush’s Commission on Sustainable Development and was a member of the Commission on Global Governance as well as the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. Before joining the MacArthur Foundation, Mrs. Simmons was President of Hampshire College, Dean of Students and Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University.

In 1970, Janet received a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics Education from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. After graduation, she moved to Tucson where she received a Master of Science Degree in Child Development at the University of Arizona. She went on to teach child development and preschool at Iowa State University and later returned to the University of Arizona where she taught child development and directed the laboratory preschool. Janet has also completed undergraduate and graduate work in business administration and worked in economic development and real estate investment sales.

Janet is a member of the Bravewell Collaborative, a community of philanthropists who have worked together for the purpose of advancing integrative medicine. She is also a member of the Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. The Friends assist in raising funds to support research at the Institute, provide educational programs on topics of mental illness, and promote awareness of mental and neurological disorders. In addition, she serves as a member of the Tiffany Circle of the American Red Cross.

He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital and the New England Medical Center. After a fellowship in Cardiology at Harvard’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School from 1967-1975, where he was Associate Professor of Medicine.

From 1975 to 1988, he was at the University of Massachusetts where he served as Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine (1975-1977) and then Chairman of Medicine (1977-88). From 1986 to 1987 he served as Interim Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Worcester.

Dr. Dalen has been a member of the University of Arizona faculty since 1988. He served as Dean of the College of Medicine from 1988 to 2001, and Vice President for Health Sciences from 1995 to 2001. During his tenure as Dean and Vice President, the College of Public Health, The Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the Arizona Telemedicine Program were established. Successful fund raising led to the establishment of new research facilities including the Children’s Research Center, The Sarver Heart Center, The Arizona Arthritis Center and a major expansion of the Arizona Cancer Center.

Currently he is Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Public Health, and teaches in the colleges of Medicine and Public Health. In addition, he is Executive Director of the Weil Foundation which supports education in Integrative Medicine.

From 1988 until 2004 he was Editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Dalen established and served as Co-Chairman for the ACCP Consensus Conference on Antithrombotic Therapy, which has resulted in the publication of eight CHEST Supplements since 1986. He is the author or co-author of more than 350 publications in medical literature as well as eleven books and monographs.

He has served as President of the American College of Chest Physicians, President of the New England Cardiovascular Society, and Governor of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians.

He has received many teaching awards. In 1987 he received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the University of Massachusetts. In 1988 he was named the University of Washington Distinguished Medical Alumnus of the Year and received the Alumni Achievement Award from Washington State University. In 2000 he received the College Medal from the American College of Chest Physicians and was named a Master Fellow of the college. In 2010 he was awarded the Harvard School of Public Health’s highest honor for its alumni: the 2010 Alumni Award of merit.