People of ASP

I have built successful extramurally funded research programs almost 40 years at the University of Arizona (UA) and the University of Kansas (KU). Trained as a biologist and as a natural products chemist, I have applied my extensive experience with natural products chemistry to a number of interdisciplinary programs and centers supported by the NIH and other federal agencies as well as mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral research associates and junior faculty. At UA, I was the PI/PD of a NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)/Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)-sponsored P-50 grant Arizona Center for Phytomedicine Research (2000-2005), which examined turmeric and ginger’s traditional uses as anti-inflammatory botanicals. This multi-disciplinary center conducted pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies, proving efficacy and identifying mechanisms of action in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Findings from this original pre-clinical turmeric/arthritis studies served as the basis to evaluate the chemistry and therapeutic potential of turmeric dietary supplements as preventive or adjuvant treatment for breast cancer bone metastases. My leadership and administrative capabilities are also demonstrated through my activities as PI/PD of the NIH-funded International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups Program (ICBG) for drug lead discovery from plant biodiversity (1993-2003); the USAID- funded University Development Linkages Program (1993- 2000) and the NIH-funded Minority International Research Training (MIRT) Program (2000-2005). More recently, I completed a 10-year NIH-supported Center grant as PI/PD, the NIH/GM Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Center for Cancer Experimental Therapeutics (CCET) [2006-2015] where I mentored KU-Lawrence, KU Medical Center and Kansas State University faculty who have received Pilot Project grants and also directed two Core Laboratories (Medicinal Chemistry and High Throughput Screening) in the area of cancer research. As part of my administrative duties as Chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at KU two times (2005-2012 and June 2020-present) I completed the Senior Administrative Fellow Program (2010-2011). Other funded projects (i.e., Kansas Bioscience Authority) allowed me to be the major advisor of graduate students who were pursuing their Ph.D. degrees in medicinal chemistry or natural products chemistry. I also mentor post-doctoral research associates who complete a two to three years training program of research in my laboratory. My research interests include safety and efficacy studies of botanical dietary supplements, biodiversity prospecting for drug lead discovery from plants; isolation and chemical characterization of biologically active molecules (e.g., terpenoids, alkaloids, phenolics); method development to improve purification and characterization of complex botanical products; chemotaxonomy and interaction of natural products with organic anion transporter proteins in hepatocytes and enterocytes. I am the author or co- author of more than 210 publications in peer-reviewed scientific literature and numerous research reviews, a co-editor of two proceeding volumes and 20 book chapters, and the co-author of the book “Sesquiterpene Lactones: Chemistry, NMR and Distribution”.