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It all started in a doctor's office. Early in the 1980's, Jim Lemkin N.D., C.N.S., was a young, inquisitive, naturopathic physician starting his own private practice in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts.
Dr. Lemkin specialized in preventive medicine and nutrition. To learn more about his patients' nutritional habits,
he would routinely ask them to bring in the supplements they were using. Dr. Lemkin was astounded to find patient after patient returning with handfuls and even shopping bags full of supplements. Often, the combined levels of certain nutrients were actually detrimental to his patients' well-being.
Dr. Lemkin felt he could serve his patients' needs better. He listened to their confusion about safety and quality,
and to their desire for supplements that matched their individual and varied needs. He then set to work on developing the best multiple vitamin and mineral formula possible, based on this guiding principle: to include therapeutically effective levels of the most highly absorbable forms of nutrients, from premium sources only.
The result was PIONEER's best-selling Vitamin Mineral Supplement. Response to this formula -- from local health food stores and doctors' offices as well as patients -- was immediately and overwhelmingly positive. As a result, Dr. Lemkin founded Pioneer Nutritional Formulas, Inc. in 1984.
For the first five years, Dr. Lemkin continued on his own to formulate new supplements for PIONEER. Then,
in 1989, he invited clinical nutritionist Teri Kerr R.D., M.A., L.D., to join him as PIONEER co-owner and
co-formulator, allowing him to take a year-long sabbatical. Ms. Kerr, a registered dietician in private practice,
had previously owned and managed several successful health-related businesses. Her entrepreneurial spirit, as well as her professional focus on tailoring natural dietary and supplement programs to address the biochemical individuality of her patients, blended perfectly with Dr. Lemkin's approach to preventive healthcare and supplement fomulation.
Teri Kerr was also to bring a patient's perspective to PIONEER, for shortly after forming the partnership, she was
diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Ms. Kerr tended to her treatment, and eventual cure, using both allopathic
and natural remedies, including the three PIONEER products then available. Meanwhile, she guided the company from a successful, small operation to one with established infrastructures, positioning PIONEER for introduction to the world outside the Pioneer Valley.
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