PAIR Seminar: Challenges and Opportunities for Chinese Medicines Research

Biography

Prof. CHE is the Harry H.S. Fong Professor of Pharmacognosy at the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He also serves as the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Herbal Medicines. Prior to joining UIC, he was the Director of the School of Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Trained as a pharmacognosist, Prof. CHE has a broad background in the botany, chemistry, and pharmacology of herbal medicines. During the 40 years of career as a researcher and educator, he has focused his research interest in the discovery of potential pharmaceutical substances from natural sources, including the isolation, structural elucidation, and modification of biologically active substances from medicinal plants, as well as the analysis, quality assurance, and standardization of plant-based preparations. Over 340 scientific papers have been published to his credit in the areas of pharmacognosy, natural products, and Chinese/herbal medicines.

Abstract

We have witnessed a rapid expansion of the global Chinese medicines market in recent years. Herb-based products are becoming an integral part of health management not only in the East, but also in the Western world. Notwithstanding the booming of herbal markets, there are challenging issues and concerns from the medical/healthcare professionals, the nutritional/pharmaceutical communities, regulatory agencies, as well as the general public. In this presentation, a closer look will be taken at the scientific challenges of the quality, safety, and effectiveness of herbal products. While some of these difficulties are unlikely to be overcome within a short period of time, there are wide-open opportunities for international collaborative research to help meet the demands for high-quality Chinese medicine products.