Mark got his start as a research nutritionist at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he became particularly interested in integration of nutritional protocols for both wellness and treatment of disease states. His interest would later lead him to research alternative medicine and Eastern medical practices.
Mark has spent over 30 years in the nutritional products industry, consulting with branded sports supplement companies and natural ingredients manufacturers. Frustrated with the overall lack of research in the sports supplement industry, he founded Chemi-Source, and in 1996, developed a “physicians-only” supplement line driven by all-natural ingredients.
Later that year, he founded Metabolic Response Modifiers to provide high quality wellness and sports supplement formulas to athletes and people with active lifestyles. Since then, MRM has funded numerous human clinical trials at major universities across the United States and abroad.
Dr. Purpura is a product development expert for nutritional health products, and specializes in all stages from concept to commercialization. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Bonn, Germany, which included two stays of research at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.
He’s spent over 20 years in the nutritional products sector working for leading global ingredient suppliers in R&D and operations. Dr. Purpura’s extensive experience ranges from nutrition to bioactive compounds to regulatory affairs and intellectual property management.
He’s constantly at the forefront of the latest clinically proven dietary ingredients and the creation of consumer products with improved shelf-life, bioavailability and other enhancements.
A leading expert in sports nutrition and award winning speaker, Ralf has authored numerous scientific papers on sports nutrition and brain, joint, heart and gut health for both scientific journals and the mainstream media. He is a post-doctoral scholar in bio-organic chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Bonn, Germany. Ralf is a certified sports nutritionist (CISSN), a fellow of the ISSN and associate editor of the leading peer-reviewed scientific sports nutrition journal JISSN.
With over 30 years of industrial sales, marketing and business development experience, Larry has a proven track record of building markets for active ingredients in the global food supplement, medical foods, pharmaceutical and personal care industries.
Larry is co-founder of TSI Group Co., Ltd, a multi-national leader in nutritional health products production, with global sales into 34 countries. TSI ingredient brands GlucosaGreen®glucosamine and myHMB® (Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate) are global market share leaders for joint and muscle health respectively.
He is an Advisory Board member to the Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), the United Natural Product Alliance (UNPA), and is the acting Advisory Board Chair of the Montana World Trade Center at the University of Montana.
