Richmond Arthur
Second cohort of the African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges / Deuxième cohorte du programme de Bourses africaines pour la recherche sur les savoirs autochtones et alternatifs (AFRIAK) .
Affliation: Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana
Discipline: Herbal Medicine
Country / Pays: Ghana
Project Title / Titre du projet: Indigenous Healing Systems for Neurological and Neurodegenerative Health in the Volta Region of Ghana: Developing a Digital Repository of Traditional Medical Practices
Biographie / Biography: I currently serve as a research fellow at the Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana. I research into indigenous medical practices, most especially the use of herbal medicines in the management of diseases. My research focuses on validating the ethnopharmacological claim of indigenous medical practitioners in the management of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders, precisely, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, depression, anxiety among others. In addition, I supervise the ITAM natural product laboratory. A laboratory dedicated to natural product research to provide data to back indigenous medicine practice in Ghana. I also assess the toxicity of herbal products produced by indigenous practitioners for the purposes of registration by the Food and Drugs Authority. This move is to help improve the integration of the use of indigenous medical practices into the health care system in Ghana. In the quest to train the new generation of researchers, I supervise postgraduate pharmacology and undergraduate Doctor of Pharmacy students whose interests are in the investigation and reporting of the possible mechanism of action of various medicinal plants in folkloric use. This is to validate their indigenous claims. I also teach pharmacology to undergraduate students in the school of pharmacy, school of medicine and school of nursing, all of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.
