Title: Conservation and Discovery of Medicinal Biodiversity and Structurally Diverse Natural Products

Time: January 13, 2025, 14:00-15:30

Location: Wisdom Classroom 404, Zhi Zhen Building, Ningbo University Health Science Center

Speaker: C. Benjamin Naman, PhD

Personal Profile: Dr. Naman earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences as a student of Prof. A. Douglas Kinghorn at The Ohio State University (2010-2015), then completed postdoctoral research with Dr. William Gerwick at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (2015-2017). Before his current position (2017-2022), he served as Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Pharmacy in the College of Food and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ningbo University. Dr. Naman was a co-founder of the preclinical drug development startup companies CyanoRx, Inc. (USA) and Ningbo Lanbi Pharmaceuticals (China). He is currently the Director of Medicinal Plants Research in the Department of Science and Conservation at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, California, USA. Dr. Naman has received several awards and honors over the years, including being named among the prestigious Global Sustainability Fellows (The Sustainability Laboratory, 2023), Science Diplomacy Leadership Fellows (AAAS, 2018), and SciFinder Future Leaders in Chemistry Award (ACS, 2014). Dr. Naman has authored or co-authored about 70 published journal articles, book chapters, and awarded patents (h-index 23, i10 index 42), and has delivered more than 75 refereed conference lectures or invited seminars on topics such as drug discovery and development, natural medicine and dietary supplements, sustainability and biodiversity protection, and ethics.