Beth Clay serves as the ICA Executive Director and Director of Advocacy and Government Relations. A globally recognized expert in complementary and alternative (integrative) health policy, and a long time advocate for health freedom, Beth brings to the ICA a unique background of government, private sector and life experience. Beth has been a lifelong patient of chiropractic. Her first experience with chiropractic was with an ICA State Representative Assembly Member and her exposure to ICA’s mission and philosophy on health and healing early in life helped set the stage for her life’s path.
Beth has extensive experience internationally, living for three years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and with business development consulting in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caribbean.
Beth began her US federal service at the National Institutes of Health, working administratively in the international, rare disease and alternative health activities of theNIH. She served as the first Committee Management Officer of the Alternative Medicine Program Advisory Committee. In 1998, she was invited by then Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the United States House of Representatives (Congressman Dan Burton) to join the staff and lead an investigation looking at the role of complementary and alternative health approaches in the U.S. health system. Her responsibilities as Senior Professional Staff would be expanded to lead investigations of high priority matters ranging from autism spectrum disorders, dietary supplement regulation, vaccine injuries in the US military and civilian populations, to racial disparities in health care.
Beth is the primary author of two Committee staff reports – Mercury in Medicine and FACA: Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Development. In her official capacity, Beth traveled to Russia, Germany, Canada and across the United States to represent and speak on behalf of the Chairman and conduct health related investigations. During her federal service, Beth served as a delegate to a WTO level Committee of the CODEX Alimentarius.
After leaving federal service, Beth re-entered the private sector as a government relations consultant focused on integrative health policy, non-profit consulting, and business development in the Middle East. During this time she consulted on the development of projects related to the energy sector, health sciences education curriculum, emergency housing post natural disaster, technical writing including for an FDA device approval, as well as legislation related to complementary and integrative health.
Beth has authored numerous papers and reports, including the 2009, article, “Study of Chelation Therapy Should Not Be Abandoned” in the Journal of the American Physicians and Surgeons as a rebuttal to an attempt to shut down the first multi-site trial of EDTA chelation therapy funded by the NIH to evaluate the cardiovascular benefit. The study would continue and have statistically significant findings of safety and benefit. She also co-authored a chapter in the leading textbook, The Scientific-Basis of Integrative Health Care, 3rd edition.
Beth has always been philanthropically minded with years of service as a hospice volunteer, scouting, advocating on children’s health and human rights in mental health. On behalf of the ICA, Beth co-Chairs the Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC) Federal Policy Committee and is the ICA representative on that Board; and formerly the IHPC Committee on Bioenergy and Health. Beth is also active on the ChiroFutures Strategic Planning activity on the Government Affairs Committee where she serves as co-chair. She is a member of Women in Government Relations. Beth is also a member of the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations and Executives as well as the American Society of Association Executives. In April 2023, Beth was inducted into the Fellows of the ICA (FICA) as an honorary member. Beth is a Certified Non-Profit Executive (CNE).
