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The American Botanical Council (ABC) gave this year’s Norman R. Farnsworth
Excellence in Botanical Research Award to Professor Djaja Doel Soejarto, PhD,
of the University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC).
The award’s namesake is ABC’s co-founding Board of Trustees
member, the late Prof. Norman R. Farnsworth, PhD. Dr. Farnsworth was a research
professor of pharmacognosy and senior university scholar at the College of
Pharmacy at UIC. The medicinal plant community lost a champion when he died
last year at the age of 81. ABC will continue to present this award each year
to a person or institution that has made significant contributions to botanical
and/or pharmacognostic research (i.e., research on drugs of natural origin,
usually from plants).
Like the renowned individual for whom the award was named, Dr. Soejarto is a
professor of pharmacognosy in the department of medicinal chemistry and
pharmacognosy at the College of Pharmacy at UIC. He also teaches biology in
UIC’s department of biological sciences.
“My immediate reaction on receiving the notification about the ABC Norman
Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award was a downcast feeling, ‘Have
I done something worthwhile for such an award?,’” said Dr. Soejarto. “After a
reflection, that feeling soon turned into elation, and thankfulness to the
American Botanical Council. All my significant accomplishments during the past
30 years have been associated with Norman Farnsworth. Specifically, I have
accomplished my professional successes because of the mentorship of this great
Professor” (e-mail, February 24, 2012).
“The Farnsworth award’s being granted to Prof. Soejarto is particularly
poignant this year,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. “Prof.
Farnsworth himself chose Prof. Soejarto a few months before he died last
September. Thus Prof. Soejarto is the last person to receive this award with
Prof. Farnsworth’s ‘blessing.’”
A native of Indonesia, Dr. Soejarto earned his master’s and doctorate degrees
at Harvard University, where his primary focuses were biology and botany. He has held various professorial
positions at UIC since 1979. Some of the highlights of his scientific career
include the completion
of the taxonomic revision of the genus Saurauia, the discovery of anti-HIV
calanolides from a pair of Calophyllum species,
and the founding of the herbarium at the University of Anitoqiua in Colombia.
As the principal investigator of The Vietnam-Laos International Cooperative
Biodiversity Group—“a program for collaborative research in the pharmaceutical
studies” housed in UIC’s College of Pharmacy—Dr. Soejarto leads the group in
inventorying the medicinal plants of Vietnam’s Cuc Phuong National Park, analyzing
plants in Vietnam and Laos for drug development potential, supporting economic
development in Vietnam and Laos, and making information on Cuc Phuong’s plants
available on the web.1 Fifty-seven new and active compounds have
been discovered thus far.
According to Dr. Soejarto, the concept of “multidisciplinary collaboration” in
scientific research was one of the most significant things he learned from Dr.
Farnsworth. It
ultimately “lured him into the study of medicinal plants” and “enabled [him] to find a niche in the endeavor to discover new
bioactive molecules from plants.”
“Doel Soejarto has devoted almost a half century to the multi-disciplinary
study of medicinal plants, including taxonomy, ethnobotany, biodiversity
inventory and conservation, drug discovery, and intellectual property rights of
indigenous people,” said Harry Fong, PhD, professor emeritus of pharmacognosy
at UIC. “His pursuit in each of these areas of botanical research is
laser-focused. It can be said that if all around him is in a state of chaos,
Doel will not be deterred from his task at hand. His sense of duty, his devotion
to the pursuit of knowledge generation, his desire and enthusiasm to advance
botanical sciences for the good of humanity are the essence of his being”
(e-mail, February 28, 2012).
This year, Dr. Soejarto also has been honored by the Society for Economic
Botany as its Distinguished Economic Botanist. He sits on the editorial boards
of Pharmaceutical Biology, Tropical Ethnobiology, and the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, the last of which he previously edited
for 14 years. In addition, he is a member of a number of prestigious
professional organizations, and his articles have been featured in Phytochemistry,
Pharmaceutical Biology, and the Journal of Genetics and Applications.
Reference1. The Vietnam-Laos International
Cooperative Biodiversity Group: goals. The
University of Illinois College of Pharmacy website. Available at:
www.uic.edu/pharmacy/depts/ICBG/goals.php. Accessed February 22, 2012.
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