Professor to go abroad for distinguished visiting professorship

Dale Nagle

ale Nagle, professor of pharmacognosy and research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been awarded an Overseas Distinguished Visiting Professorship from the Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine College of Pharmacy.

The professorship involves two separate two-week trips to Hunan, where Nagle will present seminars, exchange research findings and partake in other activities designed to build UM and Hunan collaboration.

“Overseas Distinguished Visiting Professorships are prestigious Chinese awards supported by the Hunan Province,” Nagle said. “I was surprised and very honored when I found out that I was to be awarded this highly competitive professorship.”

Nagle has been designated with two titles from the university: “Visiting Professor of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine” and “Hunan Overseas Distinguished Visiting Professor.”

One of the world’s largest pharmacy schools, the Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has about 10,000 students training in various programs. Nagle hopes to build strong ties between the faculty and students at Hunan University and those at the UM School of Pharmacy.

Nagle said that faculty members at Hunan University have “extensive training” in Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, practices and expertise in the use of medicinal plants as medicines.

“I believe the greatest potential research benefit of this professorship is that it will allow me and other members of our pharmacy school to combine our drug-discovery expertise with the considerable expertise in traditional Chinese medicine in Hunan,” he said. “This new collaboration could enhance our anticancer drug discovery program and expand our studies aimed at characterizing the potential mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic benefits and potential toxicities associated with the use of herbal dietary supplements.”

Daneel Ferreira, chair of the Department of Pharmacognosy, said that Nagle’s professorship is a “well-deserved honor.”

“Dr. Nagle is a distinguished instructor and researcher who has made significant contributions in the areas of natural products as antitumor agents and in the rare, often unexplained, toxicities of compounds found in TCM,” Ferreira said. “This visiting professorship will give him an opportunity to develop a strong research collaboration with his Chinese peers that will be of considerable benefit to both our institutions.”

Nagle’s first trip to China is scheduled for this month.

“In addition to the opportunity to share research between our two units, I believe that this interaction will provide an invaluable opportunity for cultural exchange between our school and that in Hunan,” he said.