Not-for-profit research & education institute · Cassowary Coast, Far North Queensland

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Crest of the Australian Institute of Pharmacognosy Australian Institute of PharmacognosyAustralian Research & Education

Australian Institute of Pharmacognosy

Our Team

The Institute is a small team organised into departments, based on the Cassowary Coast in Far North Queensland. Select a portrait to open that person’s profile. Each profile sets out the person’s education, background, areas of work and anything the Institute has published with their name on it. Researchers’ profiles also carry their ORCID iD once registered.

Leading the team

Research and science

Governance and operations

Community Outreach

Dr Luke Iggulden

Dr Luke Iggulden, ND, PhMN, BHSc, Adv.Dip. WHM

Founder, Chair and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr Iggulden founded the Australian Institute of Pharmacognosy and chairs it. As Chief Scientific Officer he decides which plants and questions the Institute takes on, and heads research and development himself.

He practises evidence-based natural medicine: he learns from tradition and drops the claims the evidence will not carry. The Institute's laboratory work is done in his own research laboratory, which the Institute uses under a charter agreement.

Education

  • Bachelor of Health Science (BHSc)
  • Advanced Diploma of Western Herbal Medicine (Adv.Dip. WHM)
  • ND, PhMN

Background

  • Practising medical herbalist, seeing patients from across Australia
  • Founder of the Institute and head of its research and development

Research interests

  • Pharmacognosy
  • Western herbal medicine
  • Extraction and preparation of plant medicines
  • Plants of the Wet Tropics
Dr Thomas Ridley

Dr Thomas Ridley

Head of Education and Research

Tom leads the Institute's literature review series, the Literature Review and Critical Analysis (LR) numbers in the Journal. He reads the trials, the case reports and the pharmacology behind a plant and then says how strong each finding is, in words a reader can use.

He keeps the line between trial evidence, observational data and traditional use clear in every piece. Education and research sit together in his department, and he treats teaching as part of the research.

Education

  • PhD in pharmacology
  • Postdoctoral research in pharmacology

Background

  • About ten years lecturing in pharmacology before joining the Institute
  • Science communication and teaching

Research interests

  • Systematic and narrative literature review
  • Evidence grading
  • Herbal pharmacology
  • Study design

Work published by the Institute

Dr Samuel Oduya

Dr Samuel Oduya

Research and Development Lead

Sam works through what the Institute has already gathered: the plant library, quality findings and laboratory records. He looks for connections nobody has tested yet.

He reports each lead with how strong it is and what would confirm it, and takes his direction from the Chief Scientific Officer.

Education

  • PhD in computational biology
  • Training in pharmacology

Background

  • Research data mining and analysis before joining the Institute

Research interests

  • Research data analysis
  • Hypothesis generation
  • Computational pharmacology
Dr Eleanor Whitcombe

Dr Eleanor Whitcombe

Head of Medicine

Nell checks the health information in the Institute's work against the published evidence. Every monograph and literature review passes her clinical and safety review, and she writes the warning boxes readers see first.

She reads across biomedicine and the traditional systems, including Western herbal medicine, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, and leads with what could cause harm before what might help.

Education

  • Postgraduate study in Western herbal medicine and clinical nutrition
  • Further study in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda

Background

  • Many years in health care in regional Queensland, followed by further study in herbal medicine and nutrition
  • At the Institute she reviews the clinical and safety content of publications. She does not provide clinical care or see patients.

Research interests

  • Clinical safety of herbal medicines
  • Herb-drug interactions
  • Toxicology of medicinal plants
  • Traditional medical systems

Work published by the Institute

Dr Fiona MacAllister

Dr Fiona MacAllister

Head of Botanical

Fiona is responsible for plant identification at the Institute. Every specimen and field record rests on her determination, and she states how confident each one is.

She keeps the botanical reference library, the record the chemistry, quality and medicine work stands on. She verified the botany and supplied the field photographs for the rosary pea monograph.

Education

  • PhD in botany (plant taxonomy)
  • Postdoctoral research on tropical flora

Background

  • Around thirty years of herbarium work and field collection, much of it in tropical Queensland

Research interests

  • Plant taxonomy and identification
  • Tropical Queensland flora
  • Voucher specimens and herbarium practice

Work published by the Institute

Dr Hana Suzuki

Dr Hana Suzuki

Head of Botanical QA

Hana runs quality assurance on the plant material the Institute studies. She looks for the wrong species, a cheaper substitute or a contaminant, and does not pass a sample she has not checked herself.

Her department is kept separate from cataloguing on purpose, so identity and purity are judged by different people.

Education

  • PhD in analytical chemistry
  • Training in pharmaceutical quality assurance

Background

  • Pharmaceutical quality assurance
  • Supply-chain testing for substituted herbs, heavy metals and fillers

Research interests

  • Botanical quality assurance
  • Adulteration and substitution
  • Microscopy of plant material
  • Contaminants in herbal products
Ambrose Fenwick

Ambrose Fenwick

Head of History and Philosophy

Ambrose writes the Institute's Grimoire Herbal series, which sets the plants named in historical magical texts beside what pharmacology can and cannot support. Picatrix was No. 1, Agrippa No. 2.

He works from the texts and their manuscript history, and he is strict about provenance. Ritual and traditional use are reported as history. They are never offered as proof that a plant works.

Education

  • Postgraduate research in the history of religion and Western esotericism

Background

  • Some thirty years as an academic historian of religion and Western esotericism

Research interests

  • History of medicine
  • Western esoteric traditions and manuscript history
  • Grimoire and ritual literature
  • Ethnobotany and ceremonial plant use

Work published by the Institute

Beatrice Holloway

Beatrice Holloway

Librarian, Education and Research

Bea files and catalogues the textbooks, papers and monographs the Institute collects, and finds the source a researcher half remembers.

She sourced the Picatrix editions and translations for Grimoire Herbal No. 1, and audits the Institute's published holdings figures.

Education

  • Librarianship and archives

Background

  • A working life in special collections, research libraries and rare-book rooms

Research interests

  • Research librarianship
  • Historical editions and translations
  • Institutional holdings

Work published by the Institute

Marta Silva

Marta Silva

Archivist, Education and Research

Marta keeps the links between the Institute's records: a plant to its compounds, a compound to the papers, a finding to where it came from.

Her work means a claim in a published piece can be followed back to the source it rests on.

Education

  • Library and information science

Background

  • Knowledge graphs and data curation, turning scattered records into something people can search and follow

Research interests

  • Research data curation
  • Knowledge organisation
  • Provenance of findings
Matilda Nguyen

Matilda Nguyen

Laboratory Assistant

Tilly keeps the laboratory notebook: what was run, on what material, what came out and what went wrong. If a result is written up later, her record is where it starts.

She came up through analytical chemistry and research curation, so she can read a method and tell you plainly whether the evidence holds.

Education

  • Analytical chemistry
  • Scientific librarianship and research curation

Background

  • Laboratory records and research support

Areas of work

  • Laboratory record keeping
  • Research curation
  • Analytical chemistry
Rosalind Pemberton

Rosalind Pemberton

Executive Secretary

Ros runs the Institute's correspondence, minutes and governance papers. Every letter that leaves the Institute and every decision the Board makes passes across her desk.

She has done this work for nearly forty years and keeps the paperwork in order when things get busy.

Background

  • Nearly forty years in executive and board-secretary roles across the public service, higher education and research

Areas of work

  • Governance records
  • Board and committee minutes
  • Institutional correspondence
Geoffrey Larkin

Geoffrey Larkin

Head of Legal and Compliance

Geoffrey reviews everything the Institute publishes before it goes out, checking claims against therapeutic goods, advertising and consumer rules. His review is on record for every public piece.

He would rather show a team how to say a thing safely than tell them they cannot say it.

Background

  • The better part of thirty years in regulatory and health compliance: therapeutic goods, complementary medicines and advertising

Areas of work

  • Therapeutic goods regulation
  • Advertising compliance
  • Research governance

Work published by the Institute

Grace Okafor

Grace Okafor

Head of Finance

Grace looks after the Institute's money and the search for more of it. She writes the grant applications, keeps the books honest and makes a small budget go a long way.

She grew up in Brisbane and has spent most of her career running finance for non-profits.

Education

  • Accounting

Background

  • Audit, then finance for under-resourced non-profit organisations, with a focus on grants

Areas of work

  • Grant writing
  • Non-profit finance
  • Budgeting
Sandra Beaumont

Sandra Beaumont

Head of HR

Sunny looks after roles, onboarding and the working life of the team. She knows everyone at the Institute by name and cares how they are going.

Most of her career was spent in human resources for regional hospitals and clinics.

Background

  • Human resources for regional hospitals and clinics

Areas of work

  • Onboarding
  • Workplace culture
  • Role design

Work published by the Institute

Manuel Alvarez

Manuel Alvarez

Head of Operations and Facilities

Manny keeps the laboratory working. He tracks when each instrument was last serviced, which suppliers deliver and what is about to run out.

He was raised in Adelaide and has spent two decades on the practical side of labs and workshops.

Background

  • Two decades running equipment, maintenance and supply for laboratories and workshops

Areas of work

  • Laboratory facilities
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Supply chains
Priya Raghunathan

Priya Raghunathan

Head of IT

Priya runs the Institute's systems: this website, the backups and the security of everything digital. She was the Institute's first dedicated IT hire.

She moved to the Cassowary Coast after fifteen years in infrastructure work down south, for the quiet and the diving.

Education

  • Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science)

Background

  • Fifteen years in infrastructure and managed services in Sydney and Brisbane, latterly as a senior systems engineer

Areas of work

  • Systems and infrastructure
  • Cyber security
  • Backups and recovery

Work published by the Institute

Malcolm Rourke

Malcolm Rourke

Head of Security

Malcolm is responsible for keeping the Institute's people, material and data safe. He keeps it quiet, which is how he likes it.

Background

  • A career in protective security and threat assessment

Areas of work

  • Physical security
  • Threat assessment
Anaïs Moreau

Anaïs Moreau

Head of International Relations

Anaïs looks after the Institute's relationships outside Australia: overseas researchers, institutions and communities whose plant knowledge the Institute draws on.

She grew up between Lyon and Melbourne and takes particular care with knowledge that belongs to other cultures.

Background

  • International partnerships in trade and cultural diplomacy, then global relationships for a research consortium

Areas of work

  • International research partnerships
  • Cross-cultural collaboration
  • Languages: French, English and Spanish, with working Portuguese and Mandarin
Jesse Kirby

Jesse Kirby

Head of Community Outreach

Jesse leads Community Outreach: the Journal and Blog editions, the newsletter, social channels and the Institute's international audiences. Nothing goes out until Legal has checked the claims and the science heads have checked the facts.

He came to the Institute from the Brisbane agency scene, looking for a story he could tell honestly.

Background

  • Copy, brand, social and campaign work in Brisbane agencies

Areas of work

  • Science writing for the public
  • Editorial
  • Outreach

Work published by the Institute

Leah Bianchi

Leah Bianchi

Web and Digital Designer, Community Outreach

Leah designs and builds this website. She cares how a page feels to use as much as how it looks, and she is hard on clutter.

She came up in small Melbourne studios where the designer also shipped the site.

Background

  • Web design and front-end building for small Melbourne studios

Areas of work

  • Web design
  • Accessibility
  • Typography

Work published by the Institute

Theo Karras

Theo Karras

Graphic Designer, Community Outreach

Theo is responsible for how the Institute looks: the crest, the type, the colours and the illustrations. His rule is to leave things out until only what matters is left.

Background

  • Identity and visual systems work in Sydney: logos, type and colour

Areas of work

  • Visual identity
  • Illustration
  • Layout

Work published by the Institute

Zoe Bennett

Zoe Bennett

Social Media Specialist, Community Outreach

Zoe runs the Institute's social media channels and answers the people who write back. She would rather build a small audience that trusts the Institute than chase numbers.

Background

  • Social media for agencies and independent brands in Melbourne

Areas of work

  • Social media
  • Online community

Work published by the Institute

Cameron Blackwood

Cameron Blackwood

Head of Sales and Customer Relations

Cam answers enquiries from the public and from organisations, and makes sure each one reaches the right person.

He spent two decades in sales and account management and has walked away from deals that were wrong for the client.

Background

  • Two decades in sales and account management

Areas of work

  • Public enquiries
  • Relationships with organisations