C&EN:
Tawnya C. McKee wanted a career that connected biology to chemistry. She planned on being a physician, but after scuba diving in Fiji, she changed her mind. Cindy K. Angerhofer had lifelong interests in folkloric medicine and graduated from college as a certified medical technologist, but learning about vitamin E sent her down a different road.
Stefan Gafner grew up in Switzerland, where he and his grandfather took long walks in the woods and collected grasses to make teas. Natural products are an integral part of the culture in Egypt, says Maged H. Sharaf of his birth country. Steven Dentali had a grandmother from Italy who took him mushroom hunting through the woods of New England. And Steven J. Casper? ‘Well, I come from Berkeley,’ he says, of the California city where lots of people use herbs for their curative powers.
Each of these scientists is pursuing a career in natural products. Their educational paths and expertise vary considerably, but none of them currently works in the well-known careers that natural products experts pursue: teaching and research at a university or drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. These scientists found gratifying work in personal care and cosmetics companies, in U.S. government research and regulatory agencies, and in nonprofit organizations.
Several of these scientists spoke at a career symposium held during last year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) in Washington, D.C. Pharmacognosy, the study of medicines that come from natural sources, is 1 of 5 major areas of pharmaceutical education. The word has Greek origins: pharmakon (drug) and gnosis (knowledge).
Work with natural products is highly interdisciplinary. Natural products chemistry, however, is a specialized, niche area of the chemical sciences that can be hard to break into because relatively few jobs are available, according to the scientists. They say a bachelor’s degree in chemistry is good preparation because natural products work depends heavily on good training in analytical and organic chemistry. Biological expertise is also important because the discipline sits at the interface of chemistry and biology. Read more.
Subscribe 
