In the February 2021 ASP Newsletter I commented on and gave “potted precises” of the work done on large scale repurposing of known drugs in order to try to “short-circuit” the time required to test, and hopefully bring to market, a number of potential candidates as drugs, ideally delivered orally.…However, in a very recent article in Science both sets of authors in a joint paper demonstrated that a significant proportion of the compounds identified, including a number of those “pushed by various political figures” in the early stages of the “pandemic,” were artifacts in terms of being antiviral agents and/or leads thereto.

As we collectively surpass a year and a half together in the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of us suffer from online meeting fatigue and sore monitor eyes. The ASP overcame these challenges this summer and hosted a virtual conference series on July 16, 23, and 30 entitled “Vanguards of Natural Product Research 2021,” leveraging the Virtual Chair platform as a venue to increase engagement and personal connection. The program was very successful in building and maintaining meaningful connections and providing important opportunities to younger members of our society at a crucial moment in their careers.

I am profoundly moved and honored to have this opportunity to serve the ASP as president. The ASP has been an anchor like no other for me since shortly after I arrived in the United States from Zimbabwe, twenty-one years ago now. The stated mission of the American Society of Pharmacognosy is “to promote and develop the science of pharmacognosy and all aspects of those sciences related to natural products.”