Lars Bohlin, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacognosy, University of Uppsala, Sweden
For more than 30 years, Dr. Bohlin has been dedicated to studying, researching, and teaching in the field of pharmacognosy. He earned his M.S. degree in Pharmacy at the Royal Institute of Pharmacy in Stockholm in 1972. Then in 1978, he earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy at the University of Uppsala. After his post-doctoral training, together with Professors Carl Djerassi and Paul J. Scheuer, USA, Dr. Bohlin developed marine pharmacognosy in Sweden with the aim to identify structure-activity relationships with potential in drug discovery. He is widely consulted as an expert by both private and public organizations, such as several research councils in Europe. He is subject editor for Phytochemistry Letters and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Natural Products, Planta Medica, and Phytomedicine. He has co-authored more than 130 research articles, reviews, and book chapters. In 2010, he co-authored the sixth edition of the pharmacognosy textbook, “Drugs of Natural Origin—A Treatise of Pharmacognosy.” Dr. Bohlin is also involved in several patent applications and commercial development of bioactive natural products.
Article by Lars
Natural Products in Modern Life Science
Director of the Institute for Ethnomedicine
It is rare for a scientist to be renowned in both indigenous and western cultures. Throughout the islands of Polynesia and Southeast Asia, Dr. Paul Alan Cox is known as “Nafanua.” “Nafanua” is one of the highest chief titles of Samoa, conferred upon Cox in 1989 by the Samoan people for his diligence and work in rain forest preservation. Cox is also known as one of the world’s top ethnobotanists—scientists who study the use of plants by indigenous people.
As an expert in the field of ethnobotany, Cox has served as a professor and dean at Brigham Young University, and is currently Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, School of Pharmacy. He has also held visiting professorships at the University of Melbourne, Uppsala University and at Umeå University; and was honored by King Gustav and Queen Sylvia of Sweden, who invited him to present a command lecture in Stockholm. He was later invited to serve as the first King Carl XVI Gustaf Professor of Environmental Science, a gift from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences for the King’s 50th birthday. From 1998 through 2004 he served as Director of the Congressionally-chartered National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii and Florida.
Cox currently serves as Director of the Brain Chemistry Laboratories, Institute for Ethnomedicine, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of discovering new medicines to treat Alzheimer's Disease and ALS. During his career, he has published more than 200 scientific articles in prestigious scientific journals including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Neurology, and PLOS ONE, and three books.
Dr. Cox received his undergraduate degree in botany and philosophy from Brigham Young University in 1976, graduating Summa Cum Laude and class valedictorian. In 1977, he received his M.Sc. in ecology at the University of Wales as a Fullbright Fellow. In 1978, Dr.Cox entered Harvard as a Danforth Fellow and National Science Foundation Fellow, and in1981 he received his Ph.D. in biology. He was later awarded a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award by President Ronald Reagan.
Currently, Dr. Cox serves as chairman of Seacology, an organization he founded to assist in preserving island rain forests and cultures. Seacology has built schools, hospitals, and water supplies for indigenous peoples on the islands throughout the world, saving hundreds of thousands of acres of precious rain forest and coral reef communities. The Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation has teamed with Dr. Cox and Seacology to fund many of these projects.
Articles by Paul
Zoe Diana Draelos, M.D., F.A.A.D.
Dermatologist and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology
Zoe Diana Draelos, MD, is a research and clinical board-certified dermatologist and a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Currently, she is in solo private practice in High Point, North Carolina, and a Consulting Professor of Dermatology at Duke University. In 1988, she founded Dermatology Consulting Services, PLLC, to initiate and perform research in aging skin, acne, rosacea, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, actinic keratoses, eczema, and aesthetic procedures in the cosmetic, OTC drug, and pharmaceutical arenas.
Dr. Draelos was Vice-President of the American Academy of Dermatology. She is recognized as a pioneer in cosmetic dermatology and received a lifetime achievement award from Health Beauty America for her research and the 2008 DermArts award for her contributions to dermatology. In 2010, she received the Albert Kligman Innovation Award and in 2016 she was awarded a Presidential Citation from the American Academy of Dermatology for her research contributions to advance the specialty.
Prior to pursuing a medical career, Dr. Draelos completed an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and was elected a Rhodes Scholar. A member of Sigma Xi research honorary and Alpha Omega Alpha medical honorary, she is author of 14 books including Cosmetics in Dermatology and Hair Cosmetics and Cosmetic Dermatology: Products and Procedures, as well as the editor of Cosmeceuticals, now in its third edition and translated into 5 languages. She has contributed chapters to 38 textbooks, written 78 posters, served as the principle investigator on 505 studies, written 541 published papers, delivered 318 oral presentations, served on or contributed to 38 journal editorial boards, functioned as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology for 10 years, and was a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.
Articles by Zoe
Perspectives on Skin Longevity
Collagen: The Skin Structural Protein
Dr. Fraga is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Associate with the Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) at the University of California, Davis. His research efforts focus on the roles of plant bioactives as potential health protectors in terms of nutrition and pharmacology. His interest is deciphering biochemical pathways, mainly those involving oxidative stress and antioxidant actions that affect cardiovascular, renal, and intestinal physiology.
Dr. Fraga received his doctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires in 1985. He holds two postdoctoral stages at the University of California. He returned to Argentina in 1990 to establish a research group to study the antioxidant benefits of vitamins and natural products. In 2003, he started a research program at Davis, which enhances his research in Buenos Aires. Dr. Fraga has published more than 150 articles—most in high-impact journals—that received more than 14,000 citations. He has presented at more than 110 conferences. He is associate editor for the Journal Food and Function (Royal Society of Chemistry) and a member of the editorial board for Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Redox Biology, and other journals. He has been invited editor for the prestigious journal, Molecular Aspects of Medicine and edited the book “Plant Phenolics and Human Health” (IUBMB-Wiley 2010). He served as president and organizer of two editions of the international Conference on Polyphenols and Health (ICPH 2005 in Davis, and ICPH 2013 in Buenos Aires).
He also served as executive vice-president of the Oxygen Club of California and treasurer of the Society for Free Radical Research International. He is—or has been member of—the American Society for Nutrition, Society for Redox Biology and Medicine, Society for Free Radical Research-International, Society for Free Radical Research-Europe, Oxygen Club of California, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and New York Academy of Sciences.
Centennial Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University
The very first research on ginkgo biloba, 30 years ago, was the work of Dr. Nakanishi, who isolated the active component of ginkgo extract. During his highly productive career, he has advanced the understanding of natural products by determining the chemical structure of nearly 200 bioactive compounds and how they function to affect human, plant and animal life. He has been given awards by nearly a dozen nations and numerous scientific organizations. He has published 700 scientific papers and written nine books, including an autobiography, A Wandering Natural Products Scientist (1991). He is also a recipient of the prestigious King Faisal International Award in the area of science.
Adjunct Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California. Distinguished Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of nutritional Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Regarded as the world’s foremost antioxidant research scientist, Dr. Packer received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Biochemistry from Yale University and served as a Professor and Senior Researcher at the University of California at Berkeley for 40 years. Most recently, Dr. Packer has established a research laboratory in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Southern California to pursue studies related to the molecular, cellular, and physiological aspects of free radical and antioxidant metabolisms in biological systems. Dr. Packer is the recipient of numerous scientific achievement awards and serves on editorial advisory boards for scientific journals related to biochemistry, antioxidant metabolism, and nutrition. Dr. Packer has published over 700 scientific papers and 70 books on every aspect of antioxidants and health, including “The Antioxidant Miracle.
Co-founder, LifeGen Technologies, Professor, departments of Genetics and Medical Genetics, University of Wisconsin
Dr. Prolla studied in the Department of Molecular Bio-physics and Biochemistry at Yale University, receiving a doctoral degree in 1994. He completed post-doctoral training at the Human and Molecular Genetics Department at Baylor College of Medicine, then joined the faculty of the Department of Genetics and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin in 1997. Dr. Prolla has received several awards of scientific excellence, including the Shorb Lecturer Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Young Investigator Award, the Shaw Scientist Award, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute New Investigator Award, and the Pound Research Award. Dr. Prolla’s work currently focuses on the use of gene expression profiling, lifespan studies, and histopathology. In 2001, he and Dr. Richard Weindruch founded LifeGen Technologies, LLC, a company focused on nutritional genomics, including the impact of nutrients and caloric restriction on the aging process. Dr. Prolla has published several articles in prestigious scientific journals such as Science.
Hildebert Wagner, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Institute of Pharmacy at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Center for Pharmaceutical Research, Munich, Germany
Author of Immunmodulatory Agents from Plants (Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, 1999), Dr. Wagner has studied Pharmacy since 1950. He is the author of 7 other books including: Plant Drug Analysis (Springer Verlag Heidelber, 1996), and Drugs and Drug Constituents (Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart, 1998), as well as authoring over 900 other scientific publications. Dr. Wagner was made a Full Professor of Pharmacognosy in 1965, and later served as Director of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology in Munich until 1999. He has been distinguished by many international scientific institutions including the Universities of Ohio, Budapest and Debrecen, Dijon, and Helsinki for his work in Pharmacy. Dr. Wagner sits on advisory/editorial boards for Phytochemistry, the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, the Journal of Natural Products, as well as serving as Editor for the International Journal of Phytomedicine.
Dermatologist, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Molly Wanner, M.D., M.B.A., is a board-certified dermatologist who specializes in laser and cosmetic dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an instructor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wanner is currently conducting research in the areas of cosmetic and laser dermatology. Her research interests include topical cosmetic products, fat and cellulite, and laser and cosmetic devices.
Dr. Wanner has presented nationally and internationally and authored multiple articles in publications such as Dermatologic Surgery, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, and Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. She has served on task forces for the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, and the Women’s Dermatologic Society. Dr. Wanner also contributes to popular consumer media and has been quoted in outlets such as The New York Times, Cosmetic Surgery Times, and Allure magazine.
Dr. Wanner began her academic studies at Amherst College and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. She then attended Columbia University and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha from the medical school and Beta Gamma Sigma from the business school. At Columbia, she received the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) achievement citation and the F. Lowenfish Prize for dermatology research. She completed her residency training in dermatology at Columbia University Medical Center and served as Chief Resident. She was a fellow in laser and cosmetic dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Wellman Center for Photomedicine.
Dr. Oteiza is a full professor at the departments of Nutrition and of Environmental Toxicology at the University of California, Davis. Her research is centered on the relevance of bioactives and trace elements on human health. In terms of bioactives, her investigations are focused on the beneficial actions of flavonoids in diet-associated obesity and metabolic disorders. Her other area of research addresses the relevance of trace element nutrition on early development.
Dr. Oteiza completed undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Biochemistry at the University of Buenos Aires, and did her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Davis. She was Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and scientist of the National Research Council (CONICET) between 1990 and 2003, when she joined the faculty of the University of California, Davis.
Dr. Oteiza has published more than 130 research papers. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Biofactors, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, and Redox Biology, and of the Advisory Board of Food and Function. She has been an invited editor for special issues of Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Biofactors, and Molecular Aspects of Medicine. She has co-organized international conferences on redox biology (Oxygen Club of California) and polyphenols (International Conference on Polyphenols and Health). Dr. Oteiza was awarded the Gold Medal from the Renaissance Francaise (France) in 2017 for her research on Pharmacy and Biochemistry.