Toxicology of Herbal Products

Olavi Pelkonen

Professor of Pharmacology (emeritus) and Previous Head of the Department

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. Olavi Pelkonen has MD, PhD degree from the University of Oulu, Finland. In 1978-2010 he was Associate and Full Professor of Pharmacology as well as Head of the Department in Oulu, Finland. He has >300 original and review articles in international scientific journals, mainly on various aspects of drug and carcinogen metabolism, especially by cytochrome P450 enzymes, and their regulation by genetic and environmental factors. During the last 10 years, he was a co-opted toxicology expert at Committee of Herbal Medicinal Products of European Medicines Agency.

Pierre Duez
Professor of Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology and Nutrition and Head of the UnitUnit of Therapeutic Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Mons (UMONS), Mons, Belgium.
Pierre Duez is a Pharmacist, PhD degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, holding a thesis on DNA photo-oxidative damage.In 2002-2013, he was professor of Pharmacognosy and Bromatology, ULB. He has 140 original and review articles in international scientific journals, mainly on various aspects of DNA damage and repair, analytical chemistry, and pharmacognosy. His major research interests concern the modulation of DNA repair mechanisms by natural products, with the development of analytical methods to probe different mechanisms of DNA repair. Since 8 years, he is member of the working group "Traditional Chinese Medicines" of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (European Pharmacopoeia), Council of Europe.

Pia M. Vuorela
Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology and Vice Dean at Faculty of PharmacyUniversity of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Pia M. Vuorela has PhD (Pharm.) degree from the University of Helsinki, Finland. In 2005-2013 she was Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and acted as Head of Pharmacy at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, and since 2013 she conducts as a Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology at University of Helsinki, and is also the Vice Dean. She has Adjunct Professor ships in Pharmacognosy since 1994 in Helsinki, and in Pharmaceutical Chemistry since 2003 in Turku. She has almost 200 original and review articles in international scientific journals, mainly on bioassays, pharmaceutically relevant microbial targets (biofilms, intracellular pathogens), and lately on development of novel anti-infectives for pharmaceutically relevant formulations (medical devices).
Professor Heikki Vuorela

Professor Heikki Vuorela, Ph.D. (pharm) is professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Helsinki (1998- present) and Vice Dean in research in the Faculty of Pharmacy (2004 - 09). He has worked also as researcher in Novartis AG (Sandoz AG), Basel and ETH-Zurich, Switzerland. Prof. Vuorela has authored over 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles and 3 patent families in pharmacy especially in the field of drug discovery and chromatography. He has been principal supervisor for 16 doctoral dissertations and has been the official opponent of 10 Ph.D and Ph.D. (pharm) examinations in Finland and Switzerland. During last years Prof. Vuorela has focused his scientific interest to natural product drug discovery.