Daniel Fabricant, PhD, is executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA), the nation’s largest and oldest trade organization representing the natural products industry, including dietary supplements, foods, personal care products and more. He is responsible for implementing board policy for the advancement and protection of the natural products industry, while overseeing every aspect of the association’s programs and activities.

Most recently, Dr. Fabricant served as the Director of the Division of Dietary Supplement Programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he directed agency policy, public affairs and regulatory action regarding regulation of the dietary supplement industry for more than three years. While with the agency, he successfully navigated the large, heavily matrixed governmental organizational structure to bring life to a regulatory function that was non-existent for almost 20 years.

Prior to the FDA, Dr. Fabricant was vice president, global government and scientific affairs, for NPA, responsible for establishing and leading industry coalitions dealing with a range of legislative, regulatory and scientific matters. Dr. Fabricant carried his interest in natural products into the classroom, earning a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy since 2009. Pharmacognosy is the study of drugs derived from natural sources (plants and animals). He has also published extensively and is internationally recognized for his regulatory and governmental public health expertise and natural products research.