Protest Against the National Eczema Association

I take a stand against the National Eczema Association. You have to wonder about any organization that says it's devoted to a cause but then refuses to work with people who have given their life to the same cause. I don't trust them, I have no respect for them, and I fear they are just a puppet for the pharmaceutical drug companies and eczema product pushers that support them.

They say they offer "Research Grants for Investigators," but as a self-employed eczema researcher for nearly two decades, they refused to return my phone calls. They don't even proactively tell people about my web site or eczema book. Even just getting an obscure link on their web site to mine was like pulling teeth ... and now that link is gone, because I complained to them for not returning my phone calls and put the Chairman's telephone number here on my web site. What? The Chairman doesn't want to hear from you? Doesn't he care what you have to say? Well, actually, since he's just a retired attorney, he may not be able to answer any of your eczema questions. Once you think about it, though, why would they help me, because 1/3rd of donations they keep for themselves in "Salaries, Other Compensations and Employee Benefits;" and, if that's not enough to get your attention, take a look at the qualifications of the people who are on that Board.

Here's who is on their Board of Directors:

NAMES TAKEN FROM THEIR 2008 TAX RETURN

CEO VICTORIA KALABOKES (no degree and CEO of Alopecia Foundation. Alopecia compensation $108,767
NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO JULIE BLOCK (no medical training)
CHAIRMAN DONALD YOUNG (retired attorney)
THOMAS REESE (lawyer)
PHILIP CROSBY (engineer)
REBECCA LITKE (communications major)
SUSAN LIPWORTH (sales rep)
ELIZABETH HOFF (medical devices)
JOHN CROSSEN (psychologist)
SUSAN TOFTE (nurse)
RENE CROSBY (eczema patient)
DR. JON HANIFIN (western medicine dermatologist)

Yes, these are the guys in charge of the USA's National Eczema Association. This board is not comprised of eczema experts. Simply put, over 90% of the board is completely unqualified as far as their education goes.

A male eczema patient of Dr. Hanifin described his personal experience with Dr. Hanifin as terribly horrible: treated like a brainless specimin, stripped completely naked and then observed by Hanifin and three women all at once, and he wasn't even given the time to ask a question. He said it was the most degrading, humiliating and insulting experience he ever had ... and that's the one doc on this Board. Furious wasn't even powerful enough to describe how he felt he said when describing Hanifin's "abhorrent bedside manners."

Do you trust these guys to lead the battle in eczema? It's a little like trusting a pastry chef to work on your car, isn't it ...

You'd think that after reading all the testimonials and medical reviews on my web site that they would be encouraged to promote this information, but they won't. Any association run on the money of donations has a duty to give equal representation to any philosophy that helps people with eczema, not just western medicine. For these reasons, I conclude they are unqualified, biased, arrogant and insensitive and am therefore launching an official protest. You think we need to put our money in their pockets? I don't think so.

If you, too, have a problem with the National Eczema Association being led by an unqualified board and withholding naturopathic and alternative medicine approaches from the public, voice your opinions; but, something tells me they care as much about you as they do about me.

Chairman Don Young, Tel: (561) 737-9597
Julie Block, Tel: (415) 499-3474