Abstract
Professor Dr Mahabir P. Gupta. October 3, 1942-December 14, 2020
Mahabir Gupta was born in India in 1942 and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Pharmacy from the University of Rajasthan and Banaras Hindu University, respectively. After working in India for 2 years, he continued his doctoral studies at Washington State University, Pullman, USA. Immediately after receiving his PhD degree, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship which allowed him to work with Professor H. Wagner on drug discovery from plants at the University of Munich, Germany.
He joined the College of Pharmacy of the University of Panama in 1972 where he dedicated his auspicious professional life to the advancement of Pharmacognosy research in Panama and Latin America. He also served as Dean of the College of Pharmacy (1994-1997), director of the International Technical Cooperation of UP (1983-1988), and director of the Inter-American Development Bank-UP Executive Office (1988-1991). Dr Gupta’s accomplishments were recognized in Panama and internationally through numerous honors and lectureships. He was an International Coordinator of the Natural Products Drug Discovery Program of the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED) during 1995‐2005, and Coordinator, Area of Health, CYTED 2011‐2014, for 19 countries of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal with a network of over 1300 scientists. He was the Executive Director of the INTERCIENCIA Association for the promotion of science in the Americas and was a TWAS Fellow and TWAS Council member for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was a recipient of an AAAS Award for International Science Cooperation and a National Research Excellence Award. Dr Gupta was currently Emeritus Professor of Pharmacognosy and Founding Director of the Center for Pharmacognostic Research on Panamanian Flora at the University of Panama, Panama City, Panama.
Dr Gupta was an active supporter of Natural Product Communications, and it was our distinct privilege to have a special issue, Natural Product Communications, 14(1) 1‐160 (2019) with a diverse collection of research articles generously written by many of his former students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists, and collaborators, to celebrate his 75th birthday during the Second International Symposium on Chemistry, Biology, and Pharmacological Properties of Natural Products and the associated Iberoamerican Symposia on Medicinal Plants and Cancer, held in Panama during February 5-8, 2019.
(Left to Right): Professor Mahabir Gupta, Mrs Olga Gupta, myself, Mrs Poonam Agrawal, Mrs Indira Rao, and Professor K. S. Jagannatha Rao, Director of INDICASAT (February 7, 2019, Panama City, Panama).
Mahabir Gupta will be remembered for his thorough work on Latin American plants with an emphasis on the ethnopharmacology of Panamanian plants, the evaluation of herbal medicines, and the study and utilization of tropical biodiversity as a source of lead compounds for drug discovery. He is survived by his loving wife, Olga Gupta, and their 3 children, Rajesh, Sanjay, and Purni.