Scientific Committee

About the Scientific Committee

Since its foundation, the Scientific Committee of ESCOP has been producing monographs summarizing the medicinal uses of herbal drugs – an area which ESCOP considers to be of prime importance for scientific harmonisation of the therapeutic use of plants.

The monographs closely resemble the format of a Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC), which is a basis for the information required for medicinal products, e.g. in the package leaflet, as laid down in Directive 2001/83/EC.

In preparing herbal monographs, ESCOP ‘s Scientific Committee has the advantage that it can incorporate the views, knowledge and experience, not only of different nationalities, but also of individuals from different scientific and professional backgrounds, such as medical doctors, practising phytotherapists, pharmacognosists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, chemists and regulatory affairs specialists. The Committee, operating as two subcommittees, assesses information from published scientific literature on each herbal drug with the assistance of leading researchers on specific medicinal plants, who are invited to meetings of the Committee for discussion and critical evaluation of the literature.

Draft monographs prepared by the Scientific Subcommittees are then circulated to an independent Board of Supervising Editors for appraisal. These academic experts in phytotherapy and medicinal plant research are invited to comment on and criticise each draft and, where appropriate, their comments are incorporated into the final version. Thus, each ESCOP monograph takes into account the available scientific literature, including textbooks, national experience and the advice of many authorities on the subject.

ESCOP believes that the work of its Scientific Committee represents European harmonisation at its best, and presents the herbal monographs as an example of what can be achieved by cooperation among European scientists.

Meeting of the Scientific Committee (visiting the beautiful Ricola herb garden during lunch break). May 2022. Photo: Dr. Christoph Seger.

Members of the Scientific Committee

	Dr. Barbara Steinhoff Co-Chairman Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie e.V. Germany
	Dr. Stephan Horsten Co-Chairman Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fytotherapie Netherlands
	Prof. Dr. Funda Nuray Yalçin Co-Secretary Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Ankara Farmakognozi ve Fitoterapi Derneği Turkey
	Dr. Mathias Schmidt Co-Secretary Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie e.V. Germany
	Prof. Dr. Anna Rita Bilia Università di Firenze Società Italiana di Fitochimica Italia
	Dr. Anthony Booker University of Westminster, London United Kingdom (guest)
	Prof. Dr. Habil. Maria do Céu Costa Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon Sociedade Portuguesa de Fitoquímica e Fitoterapia Portugal
	Dr. Johannes-Paul Fladerer-Grollitsch Universität Graz Österreichische Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie Austria
	Dr. Ingrid Hook Trinity College, Dublin Ireland (guest)
	Roberta Hutchins British Herbal Medicine Association United Kingdom
	Assoc. Prof. Dr. Liselotte Krenn Universität Wien Österreichische Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie Austria
	Prof. Dr. Anca Miron Universitatea de Medicină și Farmacie Grigore T. Popa, Iași Romania (guest)
	Prof. Dr. Marcin Ożarowski Instytut Włókien Naturalnych i Roślin Zielarskich Polish Herbal Committee Poland
	Assoc. Prof. Patricia Rijo Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon Sociedade Portuguesa de Fitoquimica e Fitoterapia Portugal
	Dr. Miguel Romero Pérez Universidad de Granada Sociedad Española de Fitoterapia Spain
	Dr. F. M. Van den Dungen Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fytotherapie Netherlands
	Dr. Evelyn Wolfram Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Schweizerische Medizinische Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie / Société Suisse de Phytothérapie Médicale Switzerland
	Andrea Zangara Società Italiana di Fitochimica Italy