  | Mostapha Omar, Ph.D. '81, an international expert on developing treatments from plants, has endowed a chair in the College of Pharmacy. | |||||||
A Fruitful Future For PhytoCeuticalsDave Lavalle '79 M.P.A. '87 The arrival of two men at the University of Rhode Island who are now world-renowned researchers in natural pharmacy products was separated by 13 years and two distinct cultures. Despite those gaps, there are remarkable similarities to the stories of Mostafa Omar and Yuzuru Shimizu. Each was lured here--Omar from Egypt in the late 1970s and Shimizu from Japan in the late 1960s--by Heber Youngken, dean emeritus of the College of Pharmacy. Each man's specialty was and is developing pharmaceutical products from plants. The younger Omar, who earned his Doctorate in Pharmacy at URI in 1982, was a student of Youngken and Shimizu and is now a leading international expert on developing treatments from plants. As a post-doctoral fellow, Omar joined with Youngken in writing two books about toxic plants in Egypt to help educate the medical community and the general public. "Dean Youngken was a marvelous teacher, and he is considered one of the top authorities in pharmacognosy [the study of plants for use in medicinal products]," said Omar, who is now president of PhytoCeuticals, Inc., of Elmwood Park, N.J., and scientific advisor to Egypt's Ministry of Health. "Dean Youngken published more than 180 books on plants and medicinal uses. He is recognized all over the world. I modeled my work after him; he was and is an inspiration." Omar also has strong memories of his work with Shimizu, who has established an international reputation of his own for his analysis of marine organisms that may be sources of anti-cancer drugs. "I had four courses in pharmacognosy with Dr. Shimizu," Omar said. "He was a hard worker and very good professor. Also, I would like to thank Professor Leonard Worthen for his support as a chairman of the Pharmacognosy Department." It shouldn't be a surprise that Omar wanted to honor his mentors when he made a pledge to endow a new faculty chair in the College of Pharmacy. The new chair is called the Omar-Youngken Distinguished Chair in Natural Product Chemistry, and Shimizu has been named the first to hold this chair. A total of at least $1 million in private donations is needed to establish a faculty chair. Interest earned on the endowment is used to support a faculty member with an international reputation in a particular field and staff. Endowed chairs allow colleges or departments to grow in innovative ways without putting additional burdens on taxpayers. Omar's donation marks the establishment of the third endowed chair in the College of Pharmacy, the most of any college at URI. Omar, who has also made substantial donations to the Pharmacy Dean's Fund and URI's International Student Center, has been busy and successful since his graduation from URI. "Omar is a very energetic person," Youngken said. "He was a good student, and he was very interested in the field. It's always a pleasant surprise to have a student achieve such great success. It makes you feel pretty good." A pioneer in topical vitamin C skin care and an expert in phytochemistry, Omar was the first to perfect a stable, topical vitamin C skin care preparation suitable for cosmetic use. Until early 1997, he supplied stabilized L-ascorbic acid to a Canadian company and has since developed an improved stabilized L-ascorbic acid formulation that he supplies exclusively to SkinCeuticals, an independent company co-owned by Omar. In last year's fashion and lifestyle magazines, SkinCeuticals products received high praise. Mirabella, Redbook, and Allure listed the SkinCeuticals sunscreen products as some of the best while Prevention and Parenting discussed the benefits of SkinCeuticals vitamin C products. Omar said the vitamin C products promote collagen production, which slows down with aging. Vitamin C products can help eliminate brown spots and wrinkles, and because they contain a strong anti-oxidant, they protect skin from pollution. PhytoCeuticals and Duke University are in the final year of a three-year clinical study funded by the National Cancer Institute to determine the effectiveness of vitamin C in combating skin cancer. Omar is the author of more than 12 medical and pharmaceutical publications in pharmacognosy and dermatology. In addition to his work for Egypt's government, he is the scientific adviser to October Pharma, a leading Egyptian pharmaceutical company that manufactures a wide range of pharmaceutical products. "I travel to Egypt every six to eight weeks in my role as an adviser to the Ministry of Health and October Pharma, where we have a big project using natural products in medicine," Omar said. "I have two prescription medications for treating vitiligo and psoriasis. We use Aloe Vera gel and fermented apple pectin with other natural ingredients." Omar, who earned his Master's in Pharmaceutical Sciences and his Bachelor of Pharmacy from Cairo University's College of Pharmacy, holds a patent on the pharmacological effects of Aloeferon, the active ingredients found in Aloe Vera gel, which is used in treating second- and third-degree burns and skin inflammation. Developing successful topical medications from natural products is not easy work, according to Omar, because there are so many species of each plant. He said researchers have to use the right species and take it from the same place to replicate the effect every time. "This is exciting work to use natural products to heal some very painful skin diseases," Omar said. Omar said he expects a fruitful future for the use of natural products in medicines. "Right now, we are trying to replace many synthetic drugs with a lot of side effects with safe natural products," he commented. "We will be able to eliminate many problems over time." u Dave Lavallee '79, M.P.A. '78, is a public information and communications specialist in URI's Department of Communications. |
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