Naturopath Enthusiastic 
About Environmental Medicine Course
UPdate Spring 2003

Naturopathic doctor Alex McLellan, the latest recipient of the Dr. E. Bruce Elliott Memorial Scholarship, is enthusiastic about his recent experience at professional development courses organized by the American Association of Environmental Medicine (AAEM). "This is my style of practice," says McLellan, "nutritional medicine, supplements, detoxification. It fits very well with things I've been doing for years."  

McLellan was impressed with the up-to-date scientific information presented at the course, and found some "clinical pearls" in case studies which were presented. Although most people attending AAEM courses are medical doctors, McLellan was one of about a dozen naturopaths.  He says that what he learned "has already helped many of my patients." He was particularly impressed by information presented by Dr. Jonathan Wright, who covered the role of nutrition in treating diseases "from A to Z."

"From a practice point of view, the course was excellent," McLellan said. But, he added, it was a bit depressing because "it made me aware that what we are doing to the environment is even worse than I had realized."  McLellan has an office in Halifax.  He is the fourth person to benefit from the scholarship, which was established by the Nova Scotia Allergy and Environmental Health Association in 1999. A second recipient, Dr. Bill Harvey of Elmsdale, received a partial scholarship to complete the last of four core AAEM courses this spring.

The scholarship fund was established in memory of Dr. Bruce Elliott, a well loved and respected Halifax GP with a busy practice in environmental medicine. Dr. Elliott's death worsened an already severe shortage of doctors trained to help patients suffering from environmental illnesses.  The objective of the scholarship is to provide more Nova Scotia doctors with specialized training in this area. Corporate sponsors of this year's scholarship are Air Canada, the American Association for Environmental Medicine, Aegis Environmental Ltd., and Vision 2000 Travel Group Atlantic.