Medicinal Plants for Holistic Health and Well-Being

Professor Namrita Lall is truly passionate about evaluating the wonders of medicinal plants and not only concludes her findings on collating information on ethnobotanical usage, but takes it beyond proving their efficacy and eventually resulting in valuable pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products. Prof Lall is a distinguished scientist in Medicinal Plant Science at the University of Pretoria. Prof Lall is internationally recognised as a leading scholar in the field of Phytomedicine, which is reflected by her recent appointments as an adjunct Professor at the School of Natural Resources University of Missouri, USA (Dept is 1 of the top 15 in the world), a Senior Research fellow at the Bio-Tech R&D Institute, Jamaica and an adjunct faculty at JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, India. She has been placed in the Essential Science Indicators list of the top 1% of publication outputs (citations) in the discipline pharmacology and toxicology. She has international recognition for her research into the potential of medicinal plants for pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical purposes. She has made a significant contribution to the field of Medicinal Plant science. Several medicinal plants with valuable biological activities have been discovered, which led to several national and international patents. She has co-authored about 135 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and 24 book chapters. The book by Prof Lall, entitled ‘Medicinal Plants for Holistic Health and Well-being’, was published by Elsevier in 2018. Among several awards received in recognition for her work, a few are “The Order of Mapungubwe”, South Africa’s highest honour, Distinguished Young Women in Science Award, prestigious United Kingdom Royal Society/National Research Foundation award and UNESCO-L’Oreal Award for Women in Science. Prof Lall has presented numerous keynotes and plenary talks at international conferences. She has demonstrated a commitment to community development by interacting positively with traditional health practitioners and engaging them in advancing traditional medicines towards conventional pharmaceutical products.

• 1. Introduction2. Skin Cancer and Plants Traditionally Used in South Africa3. South African Plants in Turning Back the Clock4. Exploiting South African Plants for Acne Vulgaris5. Medicine Plants as Alternative Treatments for Progressive Macular Hypomelanosis6. Periodontal Diseases7. South African Plants Against Tuberculosis Infections

"Reanalyzing medicinal plants using this perspective could reveal a world of knowledge encompassing valuable potential sources of drugs and hope for future medications for currently incurable diseases. The work presented in this book will be most advantageous for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as academic staff researching plants for medicinal and cosmetic purposes in South Africa and indeed the rest of the world. The accessible and informative writing style, which is consistent throughout the chapters, also lends itself to being of interest to lay people with a particular interest in medicinal plants and how they work. The writing is pitched at a level to provide the specialist with intriguing information, updated facts and references but will also resonate with the novice who would like to gain more in-depth information on the highlighted topics." --Frontiers in Pharmacology"...the book comprises thought-provoking and diverse chapters on the potential for utilization of plants in treating diseases of the skin and use of traditional medicine as anticancer, anti-aging, and anti-infective agents." --McGraw, Frontiers in Pharmacology