CONQUEST

LIVING FOUNDATION MEDICAL CENTER

August, 1999

Robert F. Barrett, Ph.D.

It's hard to believe that it has been a whole year since I assumed the position of Executive Director here at Livingston. Looking back, it has been a period of significant growth and promise for us. It has also been a time of positive change, which I think will benefit all our patients.

First and foremost are the changes, which affect the clinical and medical aspects of our program. In August 1998, we began working with Dr. Aristo Vojdani and Immunosciences Laboratory of Los Angeles, which now provide us with a more complete picture of each patient's immune functioning as well as an extensive profile of the patient's vitamin, mineral and antioxidant capacity from several viewpoints. Having baseline reports, as well as subsequent follow up evaluations will provide our physicians and nutritionist with a comprehensive overview of each patient. This will also provide us with important data to evaluate the effectiveness of our immunology program here at Livingston. Please see Dr. LaBeau's column for a more complete summary of these laboratory tests.

Secondly, as you can see from the enclosed order form and the accompanying article, our Nutritionist, Janet Zuckerman has been hard at work reevaluating the entire line of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants used in our program. We now have a new multivitamin formulated by Janet to enhance and replace the Daily Care formula used for many years. This product is custom produced by the Tyler Encapsulations Company, which does extensive research in this area. In addition, the entire line of vitamins and supplements has been reviewed with the goal of providing our Livingston patients with the highest quality, most absorbable formula, and best value. If you haven't ordered your vitamins or supplements from us for a while, I would urge you to use the new order form or give Al or Toni a call in the shipping Department and try them. Let me know what you think.

The most constant comment I hear from all patients is what a wonderful staff we have. Without a doubt we have one of the most caring, professional and competent staff of any medical facility; and, quite honestly, it keeps getting better. In addition to the many staff members some of you may know from the "days of Dr. Virginia" such as Thelma, Lucy, Janet, Ruth, Linda, Sue, Lois, and Dr. Magtire, many other are second generation with continuous years of service such as Adrienne, Betty, Cathy, Marcia, Dr. LaBeau, and myself. Newcomers include Al and Toni in the Shipping Department, Doris and Judi in the Kitchen, Luz in the laboratory and Susan at the front desk.

 One of the questions I often hear from patients, as well as others in the field of alternative and complementary medicine is "What are you doing about research?" We are back on track. During the past year we completed one study supported by the National Institute of Health through The Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine Research in Cancer at the University of Texas, Houston. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of doing outcome research with alternative medicine clinics. I am happy to report that based on a five-year retrospective analysis, Livingston met all the criteria for patient records and surpassed the criteria for being able to do follow up studies.

 Other research projects such as a Prospective Monitoring and Evaluation System and Quality Of Life studies are on the drawing table. In addition, there are plans to continue the biomedical research on vaccines and immunology begun by Dr. Livingston. As technology is rapidly evolving, we are coming closer to fulfilling Dr. Livingston's dream of establishing the effectiveness of her vaccine and nutritional protocol.

NEXT