Maesimund B. Panos, MD Homeopathy Educator Award
Presented April 18, 2026 by Dr. Lauri Grossman, NCH Immediate Past President and NESH Alumni
CONGRATS to 2026 Award Recipient:
Paul Herscu ND, MPH, DHANP
The Maesimund B. Panos, MD Homeopathy Educator Award from the National Center of Homeopathy (NCH) was established in 2023 and honors an individual who has made a significant contribution to homeopathic education in the United States or Canada, recognizing leadership, sustained service, and dedication to advancing education for professional homeopaths and licensed healthcare providers.
It was even more meaningful that Dr. Lauri Grossman, NCH Immediate Past President and NESH Alum was the one to present this award to Dr. Herscu. She shared a heartfelt and beautiful tribute to him both personally and professionally. It is definitely worth a listen if you have time.
“When I began to think about this lifetime award, I thought about how my career has been defined by two women. One of them, I had the good sense and good fortune to marry. The second woman was someone I met before Amy, sometime around 1980. That woman was Maesi Panos.
That conversation with Maesi over supper years ago sent me down a deep dive into our history. I wanted to understand why homeopathy flourishes in one era and fades in another. What I found is that homeopathy has never EVER existed anywhere in the world for very long without an advocacy group like the NCH.
The other takeaway was a realization that our greatest hurdle wasn’t just advocacy – it was our literature and education. I saw brilliant, dedicated people studying homeopathy only to leave the field because the results they were taught to expect didn’t match the reality.
When Amy and I founded the New England School of Homeopathy, our guiding principle was and still is to bridge the gap between potential and practice and to teach only what we have seen with our own eyes.
For me it all began with a meal … and a few questions to Maesi .. when I was 20 years old. It has been, and remains the privilege of a lifetime to follow those questions to where we are today. And it is profound honor to receive this award in her honor.” Paul Herscu ND, MPH, DHANP
The name of the award pays tribute to Maesimund B. Panos, MD (1912–1999), a founding member of NCH, and reflects her lifelong commitment to building and advancing homeopathy education in the United States.
Maesimund B. Panos, MD was an author, lecturer, and homeopathic practitioner. One of the first five initial board of directors members, she was involved in starting NCH in 1974, an entity established, according to articles of incorporation, for the purpose of promoting the art of healing according to the natural laws of cure from a strictly homeopathic standpoint and which purpose was accomplished through education in various forms including NCH Summer School, Study Groups, publications, instruction and otherwise.
She practiced homeopathic medicine in Washington, D.C. for many years, until she moved to Tipp City, Ohio where she founded The Woodward Foundation for Homeopathy.
In 1980 she wrote Homeopathic Medicine at Home – a one-volume compendium of homeopathic information which includes the history of homeopathy, an explanation of its principles, and advice on dosage. A full pharmacopoeia of natural remedies for common ailments and injuries, it also contains sections on homeopathy for children and animals and is still widely read today.
Nominators emphasized Dr. Herscu’s:
*Extensive service to the homeopathic community in both the United States and Europe and the longstanding contributions to homeopathic and naturopathic medical education and community support.
*Noted his generous donation of much of the extensive library to universities on both coasts, strengthening academic resources, as well as support of the NUNM Helfgott Research Institute and its evidence-informed naturopathic research.
*Praised him for the many webinars and live lectures offered as fundraisers for homeopathic and naturopathic associations, the free board-review teaching for naturopathic students, and commitment—through the New England School of Homeopathy—to helping practitioners organize complex clinical and materia medica information so that prescribing is more accurate, effective, and aligned with modern scientific thought.
*Students and colleagues consistently report that his teaching enhances their understanding of patients and improves their ability to find the correct remedy.
Nominations included the following comment in recognition of Dr. Herscu’s achievements
“Dr. Herscu is one of the most gifted, influential, and visionary teachers in our profession. He has devoted significant time to education and professional development within the homeopathic and naturopathic community. He frequently offers webinars and live lectures as fundraisers for multiple homeopathic and naturopathic associations, ensuring these organizations can continue their advocacy and public-health missions. In recent years he has created and offered free study review for naturopathic medical students preparing for their board examinations — specifically addressing the homeopathy component. His aim in all of this teaching, through the New England School of Homeopathy with extensive offering homeopathic classes and seminars, is to help practitioners organize the overwhelming information about our patients and about the remedies we use in order to make homeopathic prescribing more accurate and effective, and at the same time place homeopathic theory in the center of modern scientific thought. Students and colleagues appreciate the support and find it enhances their effectiveness in understanding