North American Ginseng, Panax Quinquefolium L ― Cultivations, Phytochemistry, Medical Uses, Advanced Processing, and Safety and Regulation

A resource for health care workers, scientists, and the general reader, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research of North American ginseng as a crop and medicine. A particular focus on preclinical medical studies highlights the vast potential of therapeutic uses of North American ginseng. A multidisciplinary approach allows readers to become familiar with all aspects of the ginseng industry and strengthens the understanding of the potential avenues for its improvement from cultivation to consumption.

Dr. Ed Lui, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He received his education and research training in pharmacy, pharmacology, and toxicology from Dalhousie University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is the scientific director of the Ontario Ginseng Innovation and Research Consortium (OGIRC), which was established in 2008 through a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation - Research Excellence Program. This consortium is an Ontario-wide effort encompassing academic, government, and industrial sectors with a five-year budget of $20 million to focus on new technologies for ginseng agriculture and product development. Dr. Lui’s research focuses on how herbal products work to provide scientific evidence for their medicinal use. He has been active in the educational aspects of complementary medicine in undergraduate medical and medical science curricula and provides leadership in establishing the Integrative Health Network in the city of London. He serves as the president of the Canadian Institute of Chinese Medicinal Research and the founding editor of the Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Dr. Lui represents the Standard Council of Canada in matters relating to International Standards of quality and safety of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He served on the Expert Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicine of the Therapeutic Product Programme of Health Canada. Internationally, Dr. Lui serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine.

Daniel C. W. Brown is a principal investigator with the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a research scientist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He was educated (BSc and MSc) at the University of Waterloo, Canada, The University of Calgary (PhD), Canada, and the University of Sheffield (Postdoctoral), UK. He has thirty years of research experience in university and government laboratories in Canada, England, and France. Dr. Brown has been a project leader in a number of plant biotechnology-based programs as well as a consultant for national and international agencies in Asia, Europe, North and South America, and the Caribbean. His area of scientific expertise includes developmental plant physiology, in vitro morphogenesis, gene transfer and gene expression, and plant molecular and genomics studies. He has authored and co-authored over 300 scientific publications, patents, and scientific reports.