AHPA Announces Winners of 2010 AHPA Awards
March 8, 2010 — The American Herbal Products Association’s (AHPA) is proud to announce the winners of its fifth annual AHPA Awards to recognize individuals and companies making substantive, positive contributions to the herbal products industry.
“AHPA honors and thanks these leaders for their significant contributions to the herbal products industry,” said Michael McGuffin, the association’s president. “Each honoree is committed to excellence and understands that continual industry growth depends on the individual actions and decisions made by members of our business community.”
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Katie Huggins,
Vice President of Quality Control, Traditional Medicinals
Katie Huggins is honored as the 2010 AHPA
Herbal Hero in recognition of her outstanding contributions
to AHPA committees and initiatives. Ms Huggins is currently Vice Chair of
AHPA’s Board of Trustees and Chair of the Board of Directors of the AHPA
Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals. Additionally, Ms Huggins
is actively involved in numerous committees, including Standards and Education.
Her contributions to AHPA’s activities demonstrate the knowledge and thoughtfulness
with which she approaches quality and other issues of importance to the
industry. Among other initiatives, Ms Huggins has played a leading role
in the development of educational events on Good Manufacturing Practice
(GMP) and the creation of AHPA guidance policies and trade requirements.
Her work stands out for its quality as well as its quantity, and all AHPA
members have benefited from her expertise and marked commitment to the herbal
products industry. |
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Dr. Ikhlas Khan,
Ph.D., Assistant Director, National Center for Natural Products
Research and Professor of Pharmacognosy, University of Mississippi
AHPA honors Dr. Ikhlas Khan with the Herbal Insight award
for furthering the knowledge and understanding of medicinal and aromatic
plants. Dr. Khan’s efforts on behalf of herbal knowledge include his commitment
to fostering the research of future generations of botanical scientists,
enhancing knowledge of botanicals among regulators through his role as Director
of the FDA Center for Excellence in Botanicals at the National Center for
Natural Products Research, and contributing to the growing body of science
on botanicals. Dr. Khan’s primary research interests include analytical
fingerprinting for standardization of herbal products, and bio-analytical
approaches to improvement of product quality and safety. He is the author
or co-author over 300 original research articles, publications, or reviews.
He also serves as the Director for Sino-US TCM Research Center and as the
Director of the Center for Research of Indian Systems of Medicine (CRISM).
Born in Amroha, India, Dr. Khan received his masters in organic chemistry
in 1982 (from the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India). In 1987,
he received his doctorate in pharmacy from the Institute for Pharmaceutical
Biology in Munich. |
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Gaia Herbs, Brevard,
North Carolina
The Herbal Industry Leader
award is presented to a company with outstanding business practices. Since
its founding in 1987, Gaia has provided leadership in moving the industry
forward above and beyond normal business practices as a socially-responsible
business and a certified-organic grower and manufacturer of liquid herbal
extracts. Notable achievements include advancements in the understanding
of Echinacea through research funded by federal Small Business Innovative
Research grants; recent introduction of the EarthBottle™ (an all-natural,
plant-based, biopolymer composite resin technology for packaging dietary
supplements and body care products); charitable donations of organic produce
through its Community Supported Agriculture project; consistent
support of naturopathic medical education, including the annual Medicines
from the Earth Symposium now in its 18th year; successful development
of it’s 250 acre commercial, educational and research farm in western
North Carolina, and key support for an 800-acre public-private botanical
sanctuary and medicinal plant research farm in Costa Rica. Once
completed, this preserve will protect medicinal plants native to Central
America, generate skilled employment for local people, and provide a place
for regional sustainability research. It is AHPA’s great pleasure to recognize
the company’s demonstrated commitment to quality, research, innovation,
community and sustainability with the 2010 AHPA Herbal Industry Leader
award.
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