Ikhlas Khan, assistant director of the Natural Center for Natural Products Research, delivers a seminar at Tshwane University in South Africa.
OXFORD, Miss – Ikhlas Khan, assistant director of the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, recently delivered an invited lecture on traditional medicine and botanicals at a South African university.
“It’s an honor to be selected for the Vice-Chancellor’s Seminar Series at Tshwane University of Technology,” Khan said. “It’s a very prestigious event, and they select only one speaker each year.”
The seminar series brings leading international scholars to Tshwane University for knowledge sharing, promotion of scholarship and intellectual engagement.
The title of Khan’s lecture was “Multidisciplinary Approaches in Assuring the Quality, Safety and Efficacy of Traditional Medicines/Botanicals.”
“My lecture focused on the need for more basic science in the development of traditional medicines,” Khan said. “Africa has its own system of healers and commonly used medicine, but products based on science can be accepted internationally and benefit everyone.”
Traditional medicine has benefits that can be amplified with scientific research, he said.
“Those who practice traditional medicine have something valuable and, by interfacing with the scientific community, they can further develop these products to benefit the rest of the world,” he said. “It requires multidisciplinary efforts.”
Khan said he hopes to use this opportunity to “develop collaborations that could strengthen our program and train more scientists in the area of natural products.”
Larry Walker, NCNPR director, applauds Khan’s participation in the seminar series.
“This award lectureship is a great testimony to Dr. Khan’s accomplishments in the field and the recognition that his research program here at Ole Miss is drawing around the world,” Walker said.