AUSTIN, Texas (March 25, 2026) — The American Botanical Council (ABC) recently presented the 2026 ABC Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award to Anna-Rita Bilia, PhD, a professor of chemistry at the University of Florence in Italy and director of its postgraduate School of Hospital Pharmacy. She has been recognized internationally for her extensive research on medicinal plant extracts, biopharmaceuticals, and innovative drug delivery systems.
ABC presents this annual award, named in honor of internationally respected professor Norman R. Farnsworth, PhD (1930–2011), to an individual who has made significant research contributions in pharmacognosy (the study of drugs of natural origin, usually from plants), ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, or other scientific disciplines related to medicinal plants. Farnsworth was a widely published and internationally renowned research professor of pharmacognosy, a senior university scholar in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Pharmacy, a co-founder of the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 1959, and one of the founding members of ABC’s Board of Trustees in 1988.
“I am honoured and delighted to be selected as the recipient of the ABC Norman R. Farnsworth Excellence in Botanical Research Award,” Bilia wrote in an email. “This recognition is especially meaningful to me because Professor Farnsworth was one of the giants in medicinal plant research, and his work represents many important milestones in pharmacognosy.”
She continued, “I share with ABC and its community the same passion for plants that has driven and continues to drive my research. My work often brings together different scientific disciplines to explore new frontiers in research, an approach that may be considered somewhat unconventional.”
At the University of Florence, Bilia leads a research group focused on developing delivery systems for natural products and evaluating their safety, efficacy, and stability. Her research has expanded the use of nanotechnology and liposome-based systems to improve the bioavailability of phytocompounds, including cannabinoids. Her team also conducts investigations into the authentication and quality control of botanical materials using a range of analytical methods. For example, she has contributed to the scientific characterization of St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) using advanced techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance. She has authored or co-authored more than 260 scientific papers and numerous invited book chapters.
Bilia has held several leadership roles in prominent scientific organizations. She has served as president of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA), where she was also previously a board member and vice president, and as president of the Italian Society of Phytochemistry and Sciences of Plants for Medicinal, Food, and Cosmetic Use (SIF). Bilia is currently the president of the Interdepartmental Center of Services for Biotechnologies of Agrarian, Chemical, and Industrial Interest (CIBIACI) at the University of Florence. In addition, she serves as an expert for the European Pharmacopoeia, a member of the traditional Chinese medicine working group, and an Italian delegate and vice-chair of the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP).
Bilia’s contributions to medicinal plant research have been recognized with numerous honors. She received the 1995 Claudio Redaelli Award for outstanding young researchers in phytochemistry and the 2002 Egon Stahl Award (Silver Medal) from the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA), both of which recognized excellence in natural products research early in her career. In 2018, she was awarded the Qihuang International Prize by the China Association of Chinese Medicine for her significant achievements in the analysis and formulation of natural products used in Chinese medicine.
“I am quite certain that if Professor Farnsworth were alive today, he would fully endorse ABC’s decision to present this award to Professor Bilia,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. “She is a highly productive top-level scholar who is congenially collaborative with scientific colleagues in Italy and throughout Europe, and her impressive record clearly shows the level of respect that she has earned among her fellow medicinal plant scientists.”
ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner commented: “Anna-Rita Bilia has produced an amazing body of research. She has made significant contributions in the areas of authentication, adulteration, and quality control, as well as drug discovery from plant sources, mechanistic studies, pharmaceutical chemistry and formulation, and sustainability and conservation. Her publications all show a high level of scientific integrity. She is a good example of what Norman Farnsworth would have wanted in a person receiving an award in his name. But most of all, she is a generous and kind person.”
Past recipients of the ABC Farnsworth award include: G.N. Qazi, PhD (2025); Robin Marles, PhD (2024); Michael Heinrich, PhD (2023); Guido F. Pauli, PhD (2022); Paula N. Brown, PhD (2020); Rachel Mata, PhD (2019); the late Otto Sticher, PhD (2018); the late Raphael Mechoulam, PhD (2017); Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD (2016); John T. Arnason, PhD (2015); Harry Fong, PhD (2014); the late Gordon Cragg, PhD (2013); De-An Guo, PhD (2012); Doel Djaja Soejarto, PhD (2011); A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD (2010); Rudolf Bauer, PhD (2009); Ikhlas Khan, PhD (2008); the late Hildebert Wagner, PhD (2007); Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD (2006); and Joseph M. Betz, PhD (2005).
The 2026 ABC Farnsworth Award was presented at the 21st annual ABC Celebration and Botanical Excellence Awards Ceremony on March 3, 2026, in Anaheim, California, during the annual Natural Products Expo West conference and trade show.
The ABC Celebration and Botanical Excellence Awards were generously underwritten by donations from the following sponsors from the herbal dietary supplement and medicinal plant industry and community: Alkemist Labs, Amin Wasserman Gurnani, Brassica Protection Products, Euromed, Eurofins, EuroPharma/Terry Naturally, Indena, Informa, Nature’s Way, NOW Foods, Paragon Labs, RFI, Ryan Turner Specialty, Sabinsa, Talati Law Firm, and United Natural Products Alliance.
About the American Botanical Council
ABC is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to providing accurate and reliable information for consumers, health care practitioners, researchers, educators, industry, and the media. ABC’s educational materials cover science-based and traditional use of herbs, medicinal plants, herbal teas, phytomedicines, essential oils, medicinal fungi, and other natural products, as well as authenticity, adulteration, and sustainability topics. ABC publications and web-based resources are extensively peer reviewed and include a vast selection of articles from ABC’s peer-reviewed quarterly journal HerbalGram, plus periodicals, books, monographs, safety reviews, searchable online databases, and more. These also include HerbTV, an herb-based YouTube channel, and the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program, the world’s leading nonprofit consortium producing educational publications to combat adulteration and fraud in the global market for herbs, botanical extracts, and essential oils. ABC is an international organization headquartered in a historic building surrounded by 2.5 acres of medicinal plant gardens in Austin, Texas.
Source: American Botanical Council