Bonner County (At-Large)
Dr. Banks was appointed to the Board of Health in 1997. Dr Banks has a long standing interest in medical issues and public health. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Washington and his Masters and Doctorate in chemistry from the University of Colorado. For 40 years, he has worked in medical research, first in cancer research and later in biotechnology and pharmaceutical development, including the development of genetically-engineered products for humans and animals. He holds patents related to the manufacture of new therapeutics. For several years Dr. Banks taught Continuing Medical Education courses for physicians at the University of Wisconsin Medical School related to the practice of prolotherapy. Dr. Banks is a world recognized expert in prolotherapy, a medical injection technique for healing injured ligaments. When he was an active genetic engineering scientist, Dr. Banks was part of a team that raised hundreds of millions of dollars for medical research. Dr. Banks used some of these funds to develop drugs that are in wide use today in cancer treatment and kidney dialysis. Dr. Banks brings a skill set to the PHD board which is unique in that he has worked in pharmaceutical development, genetic engineering and clinical evaluation of therapeutics