Jason Hawrelak, BNat(Hons), PhD

HNFM Instructor

Dr Hawrelak is a naturopathic physician and Western herbalist with over 17-years clinical experience working in busy natural medicine apothecaries and clinics. He has extensive experience in both acute care settings and the traditional clinic environment. He has taught health professionals at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level for the past 16 years and is currently the senior lecturer and coordinator of the evidence-based complementary medicine programs at the University of Tasmania’s School of Medicine.

Jason is one of the directors of Goulds Natural Medicine, a 136-year old natural medicine clinic and apothecary located in central Hobart (Tasmania, Australia). Goulds combines the traditional naturopathic clinic, with a busy OTC-environment, and organic herb farm – where premium quality herbs are grown, dried, processed, and made into medicines.

Dr. Hawrelak did both his Honours and PhD degrees in the area of intestinal dysbiosis, microbiota manipulation, and the clinical applications of pre- and probiotics. He has written extensively in textbooks and journals on these topics – including Pizzorno and Murrays’ Textbook of Natural Medicine, Herbs & Supplements: An Evidence-based Guide, and Clinical Naturopathy: An Evidence-based Guide. He specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, both acute and chronic – such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, viral gastroenteritis, peptic ulcer disease, intestinal parasites, gastrooesophageal reflux disease, and fructose intolerance.

He has been an invited peer-reviewer for the British Medical Journal, Chemotherapy, Medical Journal of Australia, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Annals of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences, and the Journal of Medicinal Food. Dr. Hawrelak, a Fellow of the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia, is on the Medical Nutrition Council of the American Society for Nutrition, and is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He is also a visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre for Complementary and Integrative Medicine.

Courses Taught

  • Gastrointestinal Imbalances

Publications

  • In The Healing Power of Nature: The Foundations of Naturopathic Medicine and Ecology of Healing: Primary Care for the Twenty First Century. Elsevier (Textbook in progress); Prebiotics. In Herbs and Natural Supplements, 4th ed. Elsevier, 2015: 760-770
  • In Herbs and Natural Supplements, 4th ed. Elsevier, 2015: 771-795
  • In Herbs and Natural Supplements, 4th ed. Elsevier. Elsevier, 2015: 796-801; Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. In Clinical Naturopathy: An Evidence-Based Guide to Practice, 2nd ed. Elsevier, 2014:101-117
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome. In Clinical Naturopathy: An Evidence-Based Guide to Practice, 2nd Elsevier, 2014:73-100
  • Prebiotics, Synbiotics and Colonic Foods. In Textbook of Natural Medicine, 4th ed. Churchill Livingstone, 2013:966-978; Probiotics. In Textbook of Natural Medicine, 4th Churchill Livingstone, 2013:979-994; Herbal medicines, other than St John’s wort, in the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression: A systematic review. Alternative Medicine Review (2011);16:40-49
  • The effects of two naturopathic formulations on irritable bowel syndrome symptoms: a pilot study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2010);10:1065-1071