Preface Celebration of Professor Gerald Blunden’s 81st Birthday

It is with great honor and pride that I have been asked to present the Preface for this special edition of Natural Product Communications in celebration of Professor Gerald Blunden’s 81st birthday.

Gerald, an Emeritus Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Portsmouth, UK, received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in pharmacy from the University of Nottingham and PhD from the University of Portsmouth. He truly is one of the most innovative and inspiring minds in the phytochemical fields. He has led generations of students, including both my daughter, Dr Jie Ma, and myself, to thrive and revolutionize the phytopharmaceutical industry and has always been generous with his assistance in helping young researchers progress with their careers.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Professor Blunden has helped us on many projects, from research and application of carotenoids and betaines to the standardization of popular botanical extracts. Throughout his career, Professor Blunden has published more than 300 scientific papers, mainly involving the processing of Dioscorea, Agave, and Cordyline species in order to obtain precursors that could be used in steroid production and has contributed greatly in cooperation with me to the standardization of phytopharmaceutical products. These research findings have been accepted by both the United States Pharmacopeia and the Chinese Pharmacopeia as international standards and monographs. In particular, Professor Blunden has helped established high-performance liquid chromatography profiles for a large variety of botanicals such as Ginkgo biloba and Rhodiola. These analytical methodologies have contributed greatly in eliminating the current Natural Health Product market of adulterated products. These profiles have established a “fingerprint” used in determining the identity and potency of botanical products to ensure only genuine material and products are present.

Professor Blunden has dedicated more than 50 years to the phytochemical field and has been a member of numerous national and international committees. Of particular mention, he is a founding editor of Natural Product Communications and in honor of his invaluable contribution, the journal has set up a “Gerald Blunden Award” to recognize the top research papers and articles published.

Congratulations on your achievements and all that you have dedicated to your students and peers.