Meet HPCUS President William Shevin
Published since 1897, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS) provides a clear set of standards and guidelines for the manufacturer of homeopathic drug products. Since 1980, the HPUS has been updated and published by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States (HPCUS). The Convention is a mostly volunteer group of technical experts in the field of homeopathic medicine including clinicians, pharmacists, biologists, chemists, botanists, toxicologists and safety, legal and policy experts.
Taking the helm in 2020 of the independent board that governs the HPCUS is William Shevin, M.D., D.Ht. This is his 36th year as an HPCUS member, joining the board in 1988 and serving as treasurer from 1991 until accepting his current position as president.
Dr. Shevin brings with him the inner working knowledge of other prestigious national homeopathic organizations. As a medical doctor practicing homeopathy, he has been a member of the American Institution of Homeopathy (AIH) since 1983. AIH, incidentally, was responsible for publishing the HPUS until the formation of the HPCUS. Dr. Shevin briefly served the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists as necessary on an Ad Hoc Committee from 1987–1988. He also served as president of the National Center for Homeopathy for five years following one year as the organization’s vice president from 1985–1986.
Helping to advance homeopathy extended beyond leadership in associations though. Dr. Shevin served as a faculty member at the New England Homeopathic Academy for two years and was a 24-year member of the Connecticut Homeopathic Medical Examining Board.
Just a year ago, Dr. Shevin retired from his clinical practice of 48 years, which included inpatient care at Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam, Connecticut and Cooley-Dickenson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts . He also served as a Diplomate for the American Board of Family Practice from 1977–1984.
Presently a New Englander, Dr. Shevin is a native of Michigan, where he graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and earned a B. A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Shevin’s longtime associate Eric Foxman summed up the amazing volunteerism for the HPUS in a past AAHP newsletter article:
“The HPUS is unique in the world; It is the only pharmaceutical reference officially recognized by legal statute and which is produced by a volunteer organization. Considering the voluntary nature of the members’ contributions, the output of the Convention is remarkable. For instance, nearly 40 committee meetings were held in 2019 — six of which were all-day meetings, and the remainder were telecons spanning nine time zones. That an investment of 2,350 hours in meetings and preparation time by 30+ members. Hundreds more volunteer hours were invested in administrative work and website maintenance to ensure this reference is maintained and accessible to global manufacturers.”
The importance of the HPUS cannot be overstated. All AAHP members are required to maintain a subscription to the HPUS since Drug GMPs require facilities to reference its standards in manufacturing and testing homeopathic drugs.