• Francesco Garri Garripoli (Chairman of the Board)

• Kenneth M. Sancier, Ph.D. (Founder and CEO Emeritus)

Dr Sancier is the founder and Chairman Emertius of the Qigong Institute and was a professor at the American College of Traditional Medicine in San Francisco. He received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and has carried out basic and applied chemistry research. As a research chemist he published seventy articles in scientific journals and holds twelve patents. He was an editor of the Journal of the International Society of Life Information Science (JISLIS), Director of the California Information Center of ISLIS, on the Advisory Board of the Journal Of Alternative Therapies, and was on the Council of the World Academic Society Medical Qigong.

Since 1986, he applied his scientific background to study and evaluate reports on Qigong that claimed health and healing benefits. This evaluation depended on a series of activities including participating in international Qigong conferences in China, Japan, Canada and USA and sponsoring the First World Congress of Qigong in San Francisco. He was the first person to be honored with a life-time achievement award from the National Qigong Assoication.

To summarize the information on Qigong that he had collected, he led the development of the Computerized Qigong Database which contains English abstracts of almost all research on Qigong since 1986. The scope of the database was expanded to include other energy therapies and disciplines and is now called the Qigong and Energy Medicine Database™. The Database has been used as a source for six books, seven dissertations, and numerous research projects.

He has carried out and published experimental studies of mind/body interactions. Including experimental studies and reviews, he has published about twenty-five papers in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Sancier retired from active participation in the Qigong Institute in 2008.

• Tom Rogers (President and CEO)

• Kevin Chen, Ph.D. MPH. (Director of Research)

Kevin W. Chen, Ph.D. MPH. is an associate professor in the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Chen is a NIH-funded investigator conducting survey research on adolescent substance use and dependence, and conducting clinical studies investigating the clinical efficacy of Chinese energy therapy for treating osteoarthritis and addiction. With intensive training in research methodology and statistics, Dr. Chen has had extensive experience in designing and implementing various research projects, including clinical trials, and has long been interested in the scientific study of qigong and its medical applications. Of Chinese origin and as a long-time practitioner of qigong, Dr. Chen has observed many unexplained successes in qigong healing, and is willing to subject this ancient therapy to serious scientific examination. His major research interests include research methodology, epidemiology of substance abuse, and health applications of energy therapy and mind-body integrative medicine. Dr. Chen is among the few scientists who have both knowledge of qigong and active involvement in qigong research in the U.S. His research includes both verification of qi energy through laboratory detectors, and medical application of qigong therapy in clinical settings. He has been involved in clinical trials to examine the efficacy of qigong therapy in treating heroin and cocaine addiction, as well as osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, cancer and chronic pain. He is currently working on NIH-and foundation-funded research projects on the application of bio-energy therapy and self-help methods in the treatment of addiction, arthritis, cancer and other chronic health issues.

In April 2000, he was named the Research Scientist of the Year by the Qigong Summit 2000 in Washington DC. Working with other qigong lovers and scholars, Dr. Chen is one of the founders to the non-profit organization World Institute for Self Healing, Inc. ( http://www.wishus.org ) and the International forum for Qigong research ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qiresearch ) on the internet to actively promote education and research of qigong therapy and self-healing movement.