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Welcome to BSEM

We are a community of doctors and allied healthcare professionals, collaborating and providing education to empower our members to improve patient care through personalised, evidence-based Ecological and Nutritional Medicine

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Events

BSEM Membership

We are a growing community of doctors, allied healthcare professionals, students and researchers. We share and use the principles of Ecological Medicine for the benefit of the public.

As a charity your membership fees help to fund future events and research and to raise the profile of Ecological Medicine.

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Events

BSEM organises regular workshops, training days and scientific conferences throughout the year. All events support your continuing professional development (CPD) and are accredited.

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Online Education

BSEM offers training in Nutritional and Environmental Medicine in collaboration with ACNEM.

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What Our Members Say

"This medical community is as warm as it is unique with an expressed intent to educate and share, constantly focusing on the individual and the underlying causes of ill-health"
Dr Apelles Econs
“It has been inspirational to meet dedicated doctors and complementary therapists who one can build a trusted relationship with and then co-refer to in a truly holistic team”
Gilian Crowther
“I am extremely grateful to BSEM for helping me find more effective ways of treating patients, for all the brilliant conferences and for maintaining my enthusiasm for medicine, decade after decade. I hope you find BSEM helps you as much as it has helped me.”
Dr Jerry Thompson
“If you have always wanted to get to the Root Causes of illness, this Society is for you. I joined 25 years ago, and learnt how addressing the nutritional and environmental determinants of chronic illness could be not only helpful, but transformative. I am still learning. This Society enabled me to be the doctor I’d always wanted to be. Medical School didn’t help me get to the root causes and truly heal anyone. The BSEM did”
Dr Jenny Goodman
BSEM's Scientific meetings and training days establish the scientific basis of what we do. So we know that what we do in our clinical practice is scientifically based, evidence based, and most importantly, highly effective.
Dr Sarah Myhill
“I’ve found my tribe! For over 40 years, BSEM has led pioneering work to identify the health risks posed by our environment and how to avoid them. The Society has also championed the vital role of nutrition in promoting and restoring health.”
Dr David Jehring

About BSEM

The British Society for Ecological Medicine (BSEM) promotes the integration of Environmental, Nutritional, and allergy-related medicine into clinical practice. Our mission is to enhance patient care through education, innovative treatments, and research, empowering healthcare professionals to address the root causes of illness holistically.

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BSEM Core Committee

President

Dr Damien Downing

MBBS MSB

Secretary

Dr Franziska Meuschel

MD ND PhD

Treasurer

Peter Noble

Meet Our Members

Dr Apelles Econs

MRCS LRSP

Gilian Crowther

MA, Dip NT/ND, FBANT, CNHC reg

Dr Jerry Thompson

MBBS, MRCP, MRCGP

Become a member of BSEM and join a community at the forefront of Ecological Medicine.

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Dr Damien Downing MBBS MSB

Dr Downing is President of the British Society for Ecological Medicine.
Damien qualified from Guys Hospital in 1972 and worked in the UK (neuropsychiatry and general practice) then in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific before returning in 1980 to set up a private practice in nutritional and environmental medicine. He co-founded the British Society for Nutritional Medicine in 1983, and its successor, the British Society for Ecological Medicine.

He also co-founded the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine in 1990 and was its editor for 20 years. Damien is a Contributing Editor of the Orthomolecular News Service. He is a Medical Supporter of the cancer support charity Yes to Life.


Damien is the author and/or co-author of 5 books: Daylight Robbery (1988); translated into French as Le Soleil Vital (2001); Why M.E.? (1989); The Vitamin Cure for Allergies (2010); The Vitamin Cure for Digestive Disorders (2014). His new book, Finding Coherent Health: The Power of Light and Water will be published in September 2025.

Dr Franziska Meuschel MD ND PhD

Driven by my own health issues from childhood I very early had to look at alternative ways to approaching allergies and chronic illness. I originally qualified as a Heilpraktiker in Germany (alternative state exam for non-medical practitioners) being trained in naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, kinesiology, homotoxicology etc before taking up the study of medicine at the Freie Universitaet, Berlin in 1993. I changed to the Albert Ludwigs Universitaet in Freiburg, where I finished my degree and my dissertation in 2000. Soon after finishing my studies and a short and passionate excurse into surgery, I turned back to my initial calling and since then worked exclusively in the field of complementary and alternative medicine, focusing on Environmental, Nutritional and Functional Medicine = Ecological Medicine.

In 2003 I moved to the UK where I started working at an Integrated Health Clinic in London and then also joined the British Society for Ecological Medicine, of which I became secretary in 2012. Since then, I have been told that I am one of the main drivers for growth and development of the society. In the same year, in 2012 I left employment and became independent with my own practice Dr Meuschel Ltd in London. I have always aimed to maintain a strong connection with the German speaking independent health sector and been active in networking across disciplines and across borders. As a result, I have been able to aid the introduction of micro-immunotherapy to the UK, organising teaching for the society and currently being the only certified teacher in the UK. More recently I have been training in Austria with the F.X. Mayr Society as over the last years my main focus has shifted from treating chronic illness more towards prevention and early intervention. Currently I am working with my new company, More Than Health based on the concept of Seasonal Medicine, a method based the principles of Salutogenesis and on the understanding that unlike genetic facts, the epigenetic expression of the individual can be adapted and optimised by modifying the environment.

Peter Noble

I am a Chartered Accountant and became Treasurer of BSEM in 2018. I spent twenty years at PWC (and its predecessor firms) specialising in risk management, process improvement and systems. Subsequently I spent four years at Lazard Brothers helping to define and implement a new business support strategy. And lastly in my business career I owned a small consultancy specialising in benchmarking, mainly in risk management in the financial sector. Since retiring I run a small portfolio of holiday rentals and I have worked as Treasurer for several small charities. I am a keen supporter of ecological and functional medicine as a means of avoiding damage from, and, when our bodies are in need of help, to get over the ravages to which they are submitted.

Dr Apelles Econs MRCS LRSP

Dr Econs studied Medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, where he graduated in 1976. After working in a number of hospital posts, he entered NHS general practice, where he spent 22 years as a principal, also operating as a part-time allergy specialist since 1992. He has a wide ranging experience with management of dietary problems, the treatment of intestinal parasites, the use of oral and intravenous nutrition, dealing with chemically sensitive people and the use of all the modern methods of immunotherapy including the Enzyme Potentiated method (EPD), the Low-dose method (LDI) and the more “conventional” sub-lingual immunotherapy (SLIT).

Many years ago the Society enthused me to learn, understand and use fundamental concepts related to allergies and the interaction of human physiology with common environmental factors; in the process I discovered some special “tools” to help many acute or chronic conditions, not taught in medical schools or described in textbooks or official guidelines.

The BSEM has nurtured me and many others to develop a career in a field “ahead of one’s time” – admittedly this is neither for the faint hearted nor a ticket for easy life but it proves to be a powerful tool in hands that want to practice meaningful Medicine and help people beyond drug regimes and “quick fixing” methodologies.

Top class conferences and post graduate seminars, resonate an awareness of some overt and some obscured dangers in the modern world – areas which reflect a colossal void in medical education.  This medical community is as warm as it is unique, with an expressed intent to educate and share, constantly focused on dealing with the individual and the underlying causes of ill health. 

Gilian Crowther MA (Oxon), Dip NT/ND, FBANT, CNHC reg

Gilian is a Naturopath and registered Nutritional Therapist with a clinic in London. She gained qualifications in complementary therapy in Germany for many years, studying the mitochondria in particular, before taking up further training in the UK. She focuses particularly on environmentally-related issues of different kinds, whether toxicity, infections, or a combination of both. Gilian is Director of Research for the Academy of Nutritional Medicine (www.aonm.org) as well as a Committee member of the BSEM.

Being a member of the BSEM is a huge privilege from a myriad of perspectives. I have learnt so much about the health effects of environmental factors, whether allergens, infections, biotoxins or other contaminants, and remedies to mitigate their impact.

In the over 10 years that I have been a member it has been so inspirational to meet dedicated doctors and complementary therapists who one can build a trusted relationship with and then co-refer to in a truly holistic team.

I regularly participate in the BSEM training – both their regular Training Days and their excellent events, and always come away with new insights that I can immediately fold into my clinical practice.

Dr Jerry Thompson MBBS, MRCP, MRCGP

After qualifying at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I worked in general medicine for a few years. I loved it, apart from getting up at night which I hated with a vengeance. Then I moved into general practice. It soon became obvious that many of my patient’s problems were not helped by conventional medicine. A few patients insisted that there must be an answer to their problems and I, as a doctor, should know these answers. They were annoying but I am now grudgingly grateful to them. They forced me to look for answers. These eventually came, slowly, unpredictably and often too late for them. But later others benefitted. What I learned eventually became a series of patient leaflets, which are available on my website.

Soon after entering general practice I discovered BSEM. At the time, the main area of interest of the society was food intolerances. However, what struck me was these practitioners were always looking for answers and many were achieving remarkable results. The atmosphere in these conferences was quite different from mainstream ones; they generated a sense of energy and excitement. I also explored other alternative approaches (homeopathy, hypnotherapy, NLP, EFT, Electro-crystal therapy) and like with BSEM these conferences had a buzz about them.

All was well until I heard they were building an incinerator near to where I was living. I knew nothing about these but suspected these were a very bad idea. I found myself on a steep learning curve and eventually co-wrote a booklet on the topic (now on BSEM website). I soon realised that incinerators were just
the tip of a large iceberg and toxicity was a massive global problem, contributing to so many of today’s diseases (notably cancer and auto immune disease). Worryingly toxicity goes almost completely unrecognised, and hence untreated, by conventional medicine. Both doctors and patients are hampered by the fact that mainstream medicine lacks any standard test capable of diagnosing toxicity.

I became fascinated by the many people who recovered from major diseases against the odds. I felt their hard-won discoveries had something to teach us all, something that could change the way we look at health. This eventually led to my book “Curing the Incurable”.

So what can I say about BSEM? It has grown from a fairly narrow field to one much broader and one with a message which has astonishingly wide-ranging implications for society.

If all doctors understood the central importance of food (Hippocrates did give them a little hint) we would have a chance of tackling the huge burden of chronic disease which is now becoming unaffordable by even the richest nations
of the world. BSEM has had a pioneering role in teaching about food and nutrition. This is important as doctors get virtually no education in nutrition at medical school.

Health has reached a crisis point and many would say the NHS is broken. The problems we face are immense and growing. Intensive agriculture is taking us to the edge of a precipice: the UN warns that we may have only have sixty more years left before we have no topsoil (that means no more food). The food
industry has swamped the world with cheap junk food creating a health disaster of colossal proportions: an extraordinary rise in obesity and diabetes (400% inUK in 40 years but far worse overseas, in countries like China). This has put huge pressures on health services worldwide.

During my years in general practice, I witnessed a staggering increase in prescribing; tripling in fifteen years, at huge expense. This had no discernible effect on the rise in chronic disease. Pharmaceutical companies have routinely been fined millions and sometimes billions of dollars for falsifying research and putting lives at risk. Sadly, most drug trials have become an exercise in getting the results the drug company wants, deceiving doctors and hugely distorting medicine. Much has been written about how the industry has sidelined and
blocked non-patentable and yet effective remedies (most notably for cancer). There must be a better way forward.

We also face a global burden of toxicity from largely untested chemicals (and electro-magnetic pollution) and we are seeing big increases in cancer, degenerative and auto-immune disease, and a disturbing rise in brain disorders and mental health issues in our children. The government claim they want to fix
our health service but turn a blind eye to the causes of ill-health and continue to subsidise the very crops that drive cheap junk food.

BSEM have been at the forefront; warning about these many dangers. However, on a more mundane level BSEM is about finding more answers for patients, and unravelling the ever more complex problems patients now have, and helping the increasing number of people that mainstream medicine has
given up on.

I am extremely grateful to BSEM for helping me find more effective ways of treating patients, for all the brilliant conferences and for maintaining my enthusiasm for medicine, decade after decade. My hope is you find BSEM helps
you as much as it has helped me.

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