In April 1971, Fred Fletcher Hyde, George Smith, Nalda Gosling, Albert Priest, Arthur Jenner and Albert Orbell set up the National Institute of Medical Herbalists Limited Education Fund

“to establish the training and tuition of students of medical herbalism giving both lectures in theoretical aspects and demonstrations in practical training.”

In pursuit of these charitable objectives, the Education Fund makes grants to organisations and educational establishments, sponsors research, and supports the provision of herbal practice and education facilities throughout the United Kingdom.

In April 2016, the NIMH Education Fund – now renamed the Herbal Medicine Trust - launched Heartwood, with the aim of producing a suite of distance learning courses and programmes as part of its mission to promote excellence in herbal medicine education.

The project is led by Nic Rowley MA MRCS PGCE, former Dean of Studies at the School of Herbal Medicine, and managed by Paul Hambly MNIMH, Chair of the Herbal Medicine Trust, with Hananja Brice-Ytsma, MSc FNIMH as Clinical Director, Adrian McDermott BSc, as Head of Operations, Guy Waddell PhD fHEA, MNIMH as Director of Studies, Lisa Smith as Course Coordinator and Nikki Harrison as Course Administrator.

In line with its charitable status, all income derived from Heartwood in excess of course production costs is used by the Education Fund to support new initiatives that benefit herbal medicine as a whole. Whilst the Trustees of the Herbal Medicine Trust believe that Heartwood can make a significant contribution to national and international education in herbal medicine, the Herbal Medicine Trust seeks to encourage and support the work of all institutions offering professional herbalist training, and to share knowledge and resources wherever possible.