ESCOP is deeply saddened to announce that our long-standing and highly valued member of the Scientific Committee, Dr Marijke Frater-Schröder, passed away on 19 January 2026 in Ebnat-Kappel at the age of 85
Dr. Frater-Schröder was a chemist and scientist of exceptional breadth, intellectual curiosity and sustained commitment to interdisciplinary research, whose work left a lasting mark on phytotherapy, pharmaceutical science and veterinary medicine.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Marijke Frater later became a naturalised Swiss citizen and made Ebnat-Kappel her home. She studied organic chemistry at the University of Zurich, where she earned her doctorate with a focus on natural products chemistry. At a time when very few women of her generation pursued studies in the natural sciences, she chose this path with determination and distinction.
Her scientific career spanned several countries and disciplines. Her research fields included analytical chemistry at the University of Leiden (Netherlands) and in Edmonton (Canada) as well as toxicology, immunology, genetics and cell biology at the University of Zurich and the University Children’s Hospital Zurich. Over the course of her academic career, she authored around 50 scientific publications.
Dr. Frater also held senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry, serving as an international project leader in transplantation immunology. She later became Head of the Medical Department of a natural medicinal products manufacturer, where she was responsible for clinical research with herbal medicinal products. At the age of 58, she founded her own company, Labor Bogar AG, which she led as technical director until her retirement, thereby realising a long-standing vision and contributing decisively to the development of evidence-based herbal medicines for veterinary use. She co-authored the text books Heilpflanzenkunde für Phytotherapie and Heilpflanzenkunde für die Veterinärpraxis.
Alongside her professional career, Marijke Frater-Schröder was deeply committed to scientific societies. She served on the board of the Swiss Medical Society for Phytotherapy (SMGP) from 1994 to 2004 and was appointed an honorary member on 4 April 2019. As a delegate of the SMGP, she was an active member of the Scientific Committee and the Board of the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP). She also served as secretary to the ESCOP Scientific Committee between 1997 and 2013 and was the project leader of several ESCOP monographs. She was co-author and author of several ESCOP publications and regular news. ESCOP is profoundly grateful for her many years of dedicated service, her scientific rigour and her thoughtful leadership, which significantly shaped the organisation’s work and its standing in European phytotherapy.
Marijke Frater-Schröder’s life stands as an example of intellectual independence, interdisciplinary thinking and the conviction that it is never too late to follow one’s own path. She will be remembered with great respect by colleagues, friends and all who had the privilege of working with her.