We work together for the benefit of all.

Mark founded the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) in 2011 to assure that farmers had a resource to assist them in producing very low risk raw milk for their consumers. Mark is passionate about “grass to glass” risk reduction management on the farm, and he believes that raw milk cannot emerge as a trusted food unless it is very low risk. He is certified in HACCP management from Chapman University and has developed and implemented award winning Food Safety Plans including Raw Milk Risk Analysis & Management Plans (“RAMP”).

Mark co-founded the world’s largest organic raw milk dairy in 1999 named Organic Pastures Dairy. Today, it sells it’s raw products safely across the United States of America in over 900 store locations. The Raw Farm brand estimates to feed over 50,000 families in California, alone. Mark has worked with state regulators and industry leaders to develop the business’s Test & Hold custom food safety program.

Mark is a premed-trained retired EMS Paramedic and acute care medical educator with a background in organic farming. In 1997, Mark was awarded the Best of the West grower award for being the first farmer in the USA to initiate an “on farm audited HACCP type risk management system” with the Odwalla juice company. Mark has lectured on the safety and gut biome benefits of raw milk at USC, Stanford, UCSB, Rutgers, University of Guelph, UVIC BC Canada, UCLA, CSUF, Chico State and other Universities and medical schools in Australia, USA and Canada.

Sarah Smith is Vice President and Board Secretary for the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI). Sarah interfaces directly with farmers and the public on behalf of RAWMI, maintains RAWMI's website and Facebook page, and is editor of RAWMI's educational articles and materials. Sarah has been a raw milk consumer for over 17 years, with experience in both herd shares and retail sales.

Sarah is also a Natural Healthcare Practitioner, homesteader, and homeschooling mother of two. Sarah has been studying nutrition and health since 2005, and has been writing about real food and health on her website (Nourished and Nurtured Life) since 2011.  She is the author of two eCookbooks, Nourishing Eats (2012) and Nourished Cooking (2013), and her health articles have been featured in Real Food and Health magazine and the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health and Healing. As a Natural Healthcare Practitioner, Sarah works with children and adults to heal acute and chronic imbalances, leading to healthier, happier lives.  

Sarah has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and previously worked as a NASA Aerospace Engineer for ten years. She was awarded the prestigious Silver Snoopy Award by the NASA Astronaut Corps for direct contributions to flight safety and mission success, and she received an Award of Merit from ASTM International for her work on developing tests and standards for materials in oxygen-enriched atmospheres. She co-authored the book Safe Use of Oxygen and Oxygen Systems, and taught classes on oxygen safety throughout the USA.

Joseph Heckman, Ph.D, is Professor of Soil Science at Rutgers University, where he teaches courses in Soil Fertility, Organic Crop Production, and Graduate Student Seminar.  He conducts research and extension programs on optimizing nutrition and soil quality in support of plant, animal, and human health. Dr. Heckman has authored numerous publications on soil fertility and organic farming.  He was the lead author of a chapter on Soil Fertility in Organic Farming published by the American Society Agronomy.  He is co-author of books on Fresh Milk Production, The Cow Edition and Fresh Milk Production, The Goat Edition.  Most recently he published a review and analysis of the raw milk movement: Securing Fresh Food from Fertile Soil, Challenges to the Organic and Raw Milk Movements.

Kelsey Barefoot is Assistant Secretary and Board Member at the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI). She is the first contact for farmers on behalf of RAWMI and handles monthly data submissions from RAWMI LISTED farms.  Kelsey operates The Barefoot Cow micro-dairy herdshare and is the daughter of a RAWMI LISTED farmer.

Kelsey graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in 2013.  She worked at a level one trauma center as a Critical Care Nurse in Raleigh, North Carolina for 8 years.  Taking a leap of faith, Kelsey quit her nursing job to pursue her passion for a healthier life for herself, her family, and her community.  Kelsey was mentored by RAWMI LISTED Jewel Hill Farms to develop her own micro dairy practices. Kelsey is an advocate for raw milk and enjoys educating consumers and farmers on safe raw milk handling and consumption.   Kelsey homesteads on her farm with her husband and 2 children.

Alma comes to the Raw Milk Institute with 19 total years in banking and book keeping.  Alma worked for Bank of America for 14 years, starting as a teller and working her way up to Account Manager.  After a long tenure with Bank of America, Alma was recruited to move to work at a credit union, where she was solely responsible for assuring all accounts were balanced and reconciled and handled customer relations.  Alma currently works full time for Organic Pastures Dairy as the Accounts Receivable Manager.

The Advisory Board members provide public outreach and academic support to the Board of Directors of the Raw Milk Institute.

The beliefs, opinions, and positions of any individual Advisory Board member may not be endorsed or shared by the Raw Milk Institute; however, all members of the Advisory Board support the mission of Raw Milk Institute.

Advisory Board

Kristin Canty
Filmmaker, director/producer of the documentary Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms

Peg Coleman, MS, MS
Peg Coleman began her service as a medical microbiologist and microbial risk assessor in the US federal government in 1992, and continued that work as founder of two professional organizations focused on microbial risks, one the woman-owned small business Coleman Scientific Consulting. Peg serves as an international leader in documenting benefits of the microbiota of raw milks to ‘human superorganisms’ (Homo sapiens plus partners in health, the microbiota).

Martha Herbert, PhD, MD
Martha R. Herbert PhD, MD is a systems thinker, writer, neuroscientist and child neurologist. Her core interests are described in the Mission and Rationale of the Higher Synthesis Foundation which she founded, relating to commonalities across systems solutions to complex health, food and ecosystems problems. Her father’s dairy farm and former grass-fed beef farm, which she inherited, got her deeply interested in food production and the challenges faced by small farmers.  She is the Founder and Director Emeritus of the TRANSCEND Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.  TRANSCEND is an acronym for Treatment Research And NeuroScience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.  She is presently the Scientific Director and Principal Investigator of the Documenting Hope Project, a consultant on research design for a variety of integrative and systems-oriented clinicians, the author of the book The Autism Revolution: Whole Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be and of many papers, and has been a thought leader in a whole body approach to the brain.

Prof. Dr. Johan Garssen
Full Professor of Immunopharmacology at Utrecht University, Head of the Division Pharmacology at the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, and registered Immunologist in The Netherlands. He leads research teams that use life science, food science and technology to pioneer nutritional solutions for those with special nutritional needs and to develop new product concepts that provide clinically substantiated health benefits. Immuno-pharmacology is focused on the relationship between immune cells and their mediators in the development/maintenance and inhibition of immune-related diseases such as (food) allergy, asthma, COPD and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). See further at: https://www.uu.nl/staff/JGarssen

David Gumpert
Journalist, author, and blogger for www.thecompletepatient.com

Dr. Sylvia Onusic
After completing a Fulbright in Slovenia in the field of Public Health, Sylvia worked for six years at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia (an E.U country) under the auspice of the World Health Organization office. Slovenia is known for it's fine dairy products, raw milk and artisanal cheeses. Sylvia was first introduced to the automatic raw milk machines in the main market in Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia, and has written and spoken extensively about the phenomenon, including regulation and inspection of the machines. She is involved in research comparing nutritional aspects of raw milk versus pasteurized-homogenized milks.

Abby Rockefeller
Abby Rockefeller is the founder of Churchtown Dairy in Hudson, New York. She is a lifelong advocate of organic and biodynamic farming and whole food nutrition. Abby is working to save small farms by expanding raw milk as a valuable food for farmers and their customers.

Edwin Shank
Organic farmer and raw milk dairyman, founder of The Family Cow

Dr Edward Tindall, MS, DVM
Edward Tindall is a mobile veterinarian in New Jersey and co-author of the book, Walker-Gordon: One of a Kind. Edward’s book details the history of the Walker-Gordon laboratories and dairy, which was a state-of-the-art facility that produced and tested certified medical raw milk for over 70 years. Edward’s background includes development of implantable microchip technology and independent research aiding in the development of transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation units (TENS) and Xenodine veterinary antiseptic.

Board of Directors Emeritus

The Raw Milk Institute gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the past directors.

Peg Coleman, MS, MS
Peg Coleman is a medical microbiologist and microbial risk assessor who served on the RAWMI board of directors in 2019. She serves as an international leader in documenting benefits of the microbiota of raw milks to ‘human superorganisms’ (Homo sapiens plus partners in health, the microbiota).

Dr. Sylvia Onusic
Sylvia Onusic is a nutrition specialist and licensed dietitian-nutritionist. Sylvia served on the RAWMI board of directors in 2019. She is involved in research comparing nutritional aspects of raw milk versus pasteurized-homogenized milks.

Dr. Cat Berge PhD, DVM
Anna Catharina (Cat) Berge is Swedish veterinarian and epidemiologist with expertise in food animal production from farm to fork. Cat was a founding director for the Raw Milk Institute, and she served on the Board of Directors from 2011-2018. Her training and experience as a veterinarian and state certified epidemiologist were formative to grounding RAWMI in science. Cat always assured that every farmer thought about real world biosecurity as part of  their RAMP plan.

Dr. Ton Baars
Ton Baars is a Dutch scientist with degrees in biology, ecology, social science, and grassland science. He served on the Raw Milk Institute Board of Directors from 2015-2018. Ton brought RAWMI a deep understanding of research and the beneficial immune actions of raw milk. It was his published lab work that discovered that raw milk was excellent for allergies as shown in mice models. A quiet and very powerful thinker, Ton assisted RAWMI to conduct studies using raw milk consumers as the test group to collect data on raw milk benefits.

Elaina Luther
Elaina Luther was a founding RAWMI director and served between 2011 and 2015. She is a chef and founder of Culture Club 101 in Pasadena CA. Her knowledge of food nutrition and the consumers of raw milk were key to forming the mission and vision of RAWMI.

Ramanuj Basu
Ram Basu was a founding director at RAWMI and served between 2011 and 2015. Ram provided technical support to build the first RAWMI website. His understanding of social media and consumer interest in raw milk assisted RAWMI in the very beginning. Ram worked at Cal Tech University in IT and assisted with RAWMI farmer training days.

Bill Anderson
Bill Anderson was a founding director at RAWMI serving from 2011 to 2012. His knowledge and passion for raw milk cheese helped in developing the first Common Standards.