Medicinal Plants from Sub-Saharan Africa: Undiscovered Therapeutic Potential

Professor Namrita Lall is a distinguished scientist in the field of Medicinal Plant Science at the University of Pretoria. She is internationally recognized as a leading scholar in the field of phytomedicine and ethnopharmacology, which is reflected by her various appointments, namely, as an adjunct Professor at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri (USA), and as a senior research fellow at the Bio-Tech R&D Institute in Jamaica, and as an adjunct faculty at JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mauritius.

Due to her large contribution to the field, she has been placed in the Essential Science Indicators list of the top 1% of publication output contributors (based on citations) within the disciplines of pharmacology and toxicology. She is internationally renowned for her research into the potential of medicinal plants for pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical purposes and has received numerous awards for her outputs thereof. These awards, just to name a few include "The Order of Mapungubwe", South Africa‟s highest honour from the Honourable South African President Jacob Zuma, Distinguished Young Women in Science Award by the Honourable minister of the Science and Technology of South Africa Naledi Pandor, a bare testament to her immense contribution to the scientific community.

Her significant research contribution to the investigation of several medicinal plants has led to the discovery of valuable pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products in addition to the granting of many national and international patents. She has co-authored more than 185 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and more than 70 book chapters. In addition to this, she has edited four books, namely, "Medicinal Plants for Holistic Health and Well-being", "Underexplored Medicinal Plants from Sub Saharan Africa", "Aquatic plants: Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic applications" and "Medicinal Plants for Cosmetic, Health and Diseases". Prof Lall has presented numerous keynotes and plenary talks at various international conferences.

Dr Anna-Mari Kok is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pretoria who specialises in utilising medicinal plants as an alternative treatment for tuberculosis. She has been awarded numerous bursaries including the George Farrar bursary by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the NRF Scarce Skill bursary and the NRF Innovation bursary. Furthermore, she received the best poster award at the Indigenous Plant Use Form conference (2014) and is a member of the Golden Key Honour Society. As of current, she has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publication outputs and has presented at various national and international research conferences.

教授南米塔·拉爾（Namrita Lall）是普利托里亞大學（University of Pretoria）藥用植物科學領域的傑出科學家。她在植物醫學和民族藥理學領域享有國際聲譽，這一點從她的多項任命中可見一斑，包括美國密蘇里大學自然資源學院的兼任教授、牙買加生物技術研發研究所的高級研究員，以及毛里求斯JSS高等教育與研究學院的兼任教員。

由於她對該領域的重大貢獻，她被列入藥理學和毒理學學科中發表產出貢獻者的前1% Essential Science Indicators名單（根據引用次數）。她因研究藥用植物在製藥和化妝品用途上的潛力而享有國際聲譽，並因此獲得了多項獎項。其中一些獎項包括南非最高榮譽「馬朋古貝勳章」（The Order of Mapungubwe），由南非總統雅各布·祖馬（Jacob Zuma）頒發，以及南非科學與技術部長納萊迪·潘多（Naledi Pandor）頒發的傑出青年女性科學獎，這些都是她對科學界巨大貢獻的明證。

她在多種藥用植物的研究中做出了重要貢獻，發現了有價值的製藥和化妝品產品，並獲得了多項國內外專利。她共同撰寫了超過185篇同行評審的研究文章和70多個書章。此外，她還編輯了四本書，分別是《藥用植物與整體健康與福祉》、《撒哈拉以南非洲的未開發藥用植物》、《水生植物：製藥和化妝品應用》和《藥用植物在化妝品、健康和疾病中的應用》。拉爾教授在各種國際會議上發表了多場主題演講和全體會議演講。

安娜-瑪莉·科克博士（Anna-Mari Kok）是普利托里亞大學的博士後研究員，專注於利用藥用植物作為結核病的替代治療。她獲得了多項獎學金，包括南非國家研究基金會（NRF）頒發的喬治·法拉爾獎學金、NRF稀缺技能獎學金和NRF創新獎學金。此外，她在2014年的本土植物使用論壇會議上獲得最佳海報獎，並且是金鑰榮譽學會的成員。目前，她已發表和共同發表了多篇同行評審的出版物，並在各種國內外研究會議上進行了報告。