Herbal Medicine - Science vs Tradition

Herbal medicine is widely used and often promoted as a safer alternative to conventional medicine.
There are many misconceptions regarding the use of herbal medicine and it is very important for medical professionals to know the role and implications of use of herbal medicines - either prescribed or taken by the patient for some reason.
Prof Everaldo Attard goes through the definition of herbs and discusses the role of herbal medicines in daily practice.

Prof. Everaldo Attard - Bionote
Prof. Attard graduated with honours in Pharmacy at the University of Malta (1994) and later furthered his studies on Maltese aromatic and medicinal plants by undertaking a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Veterinary Pharmacy (1995). He furthered his specialization and obtained a Doctorate in Agriculture from the same University in 2001. He was employed with the University of Malta as a research assistant in 1995 and in 1998 appointed within the academic stream. Prof. Attard was a part-time consultant with the Department of Plant Health within the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment between 2000 and 2004. In 2007 he was officially recognised by the Medicines Authority and appointed as the herbal consultant in assessing herbal medicinal products and food supplements. Since then, he has been the Maltese delegate on the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products at the European Medicines Agency and the Homeopathic Medicinal Products Working Group of the Heads of Medicines Agencies of the European Union.
Prof. Attard has been lecturing in several areas related to medicinal plants and agricultural chemistry at the ex-Institute of Agriculture, Division of Rural Sciences and Food Systems within the Institute of Earth Systems and the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Malta. Through the Erasmus Staff Exchange Programme, Prof. Attard has lectured at several agricultural institutions including the Universities of Udine, Bologna and Milan, and the Agricultural Pedagogical Academy of Vienna. He is also an academic at the James Madison University.
Since his employment with the University of Malta, he supervised over fifty dissertations and co-supervised over thirty dissertations at the medicinal plants and agricultural products. Diploma, B.Sc., B.Pharm. and M.Sc. levels related to the field of
Prof. Attard is the author/coauthor of 37 papers and articles in renowned peer- reviewed medicinal plant journals, 8 articles in professional journals and five book chapters. He has delivered 34 presentations and posters at various conferences both at national and international levels. He is the associate editor of two journals, “Crop Research” and “Journal of Young Pharmacists” since 2007 and 2008 respectively. He was invited to review over 30 research papers in renowned peer-reviewed journals. He has been granted two National RTDI/R&I projects, three Interreg IIIB and Italia- Malta projects and a EUREKA project in collaboration with a local company amongst others. He is currently managing three projects at national and EU level.
Prof. Attard has also attended several conferences, seminars and workshops related to medicinal plants and plant health issues. He represents Malta on European and North African working groups, particularly the Medicinal WG within ECP-genetic resources and the Medicinal Plant Working group within AARINENA. He is a member of several learned societies within Europe and North America.