
E. John Staba
President (1971-1972), Honorary Member (1998)
John Staba was born in 1928 in NYC, and served in the US Navy (1946-1947). He obtained a
B.S. from St. John’s Univ., NYC (1952), an M.S. from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh (1954),
and his Ph.D. from Univ. Connecticut (UConn, 1957). He taught at Univ. Nebraska, Lincoln
(1957-1967) and the Univ. Minnesota (1968-1995), where he is now Professor
Emeritus of Pharmacognosy (and Med. Chem.). From 1974-1976 he was an
Assistant Dean for Professional Education. Among several other appointments
are Visiting Professor at UConn (1966); National Academy of Science Visiting
Scientist to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary (1969); Fulbright Hays Research
Fellow to Germany (1970); CSIR Visiting Scientist to India (1973); NASANSF Summer Research Fellow at General Electric, Philadelphia (1976);
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International Visiting Professor Award, Medical Research Council of Canada (1983); and UK
Visiting Fellow to Univ. Manchester (1989). He has served on committees of the APhA,
Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Amer. Assoc. of Colleges of Pharmacy, and was
elected to the US Pharmacopeia Committee of Revision-Natural Products for four consecutive
terms (1980-2000). Other services include membership of the NASA Advisory Council on Life
Sciences (1984-1987); NSF projects in Pakistan and Egypt; 3 World Bank IX/XVII/USAID
projects in Indonesia (1985-1994); Indonesia Workshop on Steroid Biotechnology (1986);
NATO Advanced Study Institute Program, Portugal (1987); and a USAID visit to Thailand
(1989). His research has covered economically significant plant tissue cultures, aquatic plants,
herbal remedies, and pharmacy education, and he has published over 160 papers and four
patents, and one book. He is an AAAS Fellow. (EJS)