Dr Lesley Braun

Complementary Medicines Evaluation Committee (CMEC) - membership profile

Phd, BPharm, Dip App Sci Naturopathy, Grad Dip Phytotherapy

Dr Lesley Braun is a graduate of the Victorian College of Pharmacy (Monash Uni), Southern School of Natural Therapies in Melbourne and RMIT in Melbourne. She has training in pharmacy, naturopathy, clinical nutrition and herbal medicine. Her PhD investigated the use and management of complementary medicines in Victorian hospitals and the attitudes and knowledge of medical doctors and pharmacists.

Lesley currently works as a research fellow within the Department of Surgery, Monash University (Cardiothoracic Research Unit, Alfred Hospital), a course co-ordinator at RMIT and lectures and tutors medical students at Monash University and chiropractic students at RMIT. She is also a regular contributor to pharmacy and complementary medicine journals and has lectured widely to naturopaths, medical doctors and pharmacists at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Prior to this, she was a technical consultant to the Complementary Medicine industry for over 10 years and had worked in practice as a naturopath and pharmacist.

Lesley is the main author of "Herbs and Natural supplements - an evidence based guide" which was co-written with Professor Marc Cohen and is widely used as a reference text in the field. She is active on several boards and committees such as an advisory board member to the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA), executive board member of the National Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA) and on the editorial board of the Journal of Complementary Medicine (JCM).

Her interests are herb-drug interactions and complementary medicines safety, evidence based complementary medicine (nutrition and herbal medicines) and the practice of integrative medicine.