Academician Professor Dato’ Dr Khairul Anuar Abdullah FASc
April 28, 2023
Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Makhdzir Mardan FASc
April 28, 2023
PROFESSOR DR ZHARI ISMAIL FASc (28 June 1949 – 18 January 2022)
Professor Emeritus Dr Zhari Ismail FASc was born on June 28 1949 in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. He was an expert in pharmaceutical sciences especially in the field of ethnopharmacology. He has a deep research interest in natural products having urolithic activity, standardisation of herbs, pharmacognosy, prodrugs synthesis and evaluation. He had years of experience as a pharmacist, teacher, scientist and management board member for startups and corporations.
After graduating from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Pharmacy in 1976, he served as a lecturer at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at USM. He furthered his studies at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland for a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 1982.
His research focused mainly on the phycochemistry and pharmacognosy of local medicinal plants that are useful in kidney stone disease, gout, antiangiogenesis and related conditions. In the R&D work on medical herbs, he holds a patent for the standardisation of Orthosiphon stamineus extracts. He published more than 250 scientific articles in international and national journals, monographs, proceedings, abstracts, several books and monographs, including the Malaysian Medicinal Plant Index. He was a member of the Research team in the Malaysia-MIT (USA) Biotechnology Partnership Programme (MMBPP) for Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali) and Centella asiatica (Pegaga).
In the field of information technology applications related to the core field, he was a member of the USM research group for biosensors involving fast gas chromatography (z-Nose technology), pattern recognition, artificial neural network (ANN), chemometrics and metabolomics for standardisation and quality control of herbs that won several national and international awards. After his retirement in 2005, he continued to serve USM as the Head of Research and Development (R&D) for the Center for Herbal Standardisation (CHEST-Centre for Herbal Standardisation), a collaborative project between Biotropics Malaysia Berhad and USM. He established Herbal Healthcare Diploma Programme in Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi, MARA, Lenggong, Perak.
In publishing, he served as a member of the Journal of Tropical Medicinal Plants (Malaysia) Editorial Board from 2000 to 2011. He was also invited as a member of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology Editorial Board based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 2005 to 2011.
In recognition of his services in his field of expertise, he was awarded the HDC Halal Scientist in 2010 and he was the recipient of the Penang State Special Award in conjunction with the Maulud Rasul celebration in 2011.
His leadership values are evident through his appointment as the Head of Standardisation and Product Development Herbal Cluster of the Herbal Development Office (NKEA, Ministry of Agriculture), Working Group Chairman of Halal Pharmaceuticals (Jabatan Standards Malaysia, MOSTI), Chairman of MS 2424:2012 Guidelines Halal Pharmaceuticals, and Chairman of Herbal Standards (SIRIM).
He will always be remembered by all.