He speaks four languages. He has studied and taught in six different countries and published nearly 400 papers on how to better measure the purity and authenticity of botanicals. But despite his 75-page curriculum vitae, Ikhlas Khan manages to retain a humble style that has made him not only a respected researcher, but also a sought-after teacher and team-builder, according to colleagues.

“He's a very smart guy who is also extremely collegial,” says Loren Israelsen, executive director of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA). “He really wants the best for the team, and there is very little ego involved. For that reason, he's been able to develop deep and trusting relationships with both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and industry. Ikhlas has really served as a bridge for better communication between the two.”

Born just outside New Delhi, India, and raised in a culture that highly values the medicinal properties of botanicals, Khan obtained his master's degree in organic chemistry in India before heading to West Germany to earn his doctorate under famed botanical researcher Hildebert Wagner. Khan later went to Switzerland for his postdoctoral studies. While in Munich in the 1980s, he became one of the first researchers in the world to shine a light on the problem of imposter species in Echinacea products.

When Khan arrived in the United States, he found that neither industry nor government was paying much attention to the problem of adulteration and contamination of botanicals. “Most of the research focus here was on isolating single molecules in botanicals for use in drugs,” he says. “I wanted to bring quality and safety of these products to the forefront.”

In an effort to do just that, the University of Mississippi founded the National Center for National Products Research in 1995, naming Khan as a research professor and, ultimately, as assistant director. In that role, and in his role as director of the FDA's Center of Excellence for Botanical Dietary Supplement Research, Khan has developed genetic or chemical fingerprints to help distinguish dozens of botanicals — including hoodia, damiana and ephedra — from frauds. He has also developed and taught courses for FDA inspectors, manufacturing companies and trade groups, such as UNPA and the American Herbal Products Association, about how to effectively assure that botanical products are what they say they are.

“There are a lot of subtle nuances with herbs,” says Mark Blumenthal, director of the American Botanical Council, which honored Khan in 2008. “Having someone with expertise like his to explain those nuances to field inspectors really increases the quality of the whole process.”

Khan's education efforts do not stop in the United States. He has served as a visiting professor in Saudia Arabia, China and India, and has established cross-cultural research centers with all three. Each year, he and his colleagues host the Oxford International Conference on the Science of Botanicals at the University of Mississippi, drawing attendees from across the globe. “We realized early on that, in order to improve the quality of supplements in the United States, we had to work with other countries since that's where so many of these products are coming from,” Khan says.

At age 50, the respected scholar, teacher and family man says he's pleased with his accomplishments thus far, but there is much more work to be done. “Safety and quality are still major concerns,” he says. “I want to be able to feel that if I go to the shelf and pick up a product, I know exactly what's inside.”

Khan's Research, In Part

• “A rapid method for chemical fingerprint analysis of Hoodia species, related genera, and dietary supplements using UPLC-UV-MS”; with Avula, Wang, Pawar, Shukla, Smillie; featured in the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 2008

• “The Use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the Identification of Ephedra DNA in Dietary Supplements”; with Techen, Pan, Scheffler; featured in Planta Medica, 2006

• “Separation and Determination of Ephedrine Enantiomers and Synephrine by High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis in Dietary Supplements”; with Avula; featured in Chromatographia, 2004

• “New oxypregnane glycosides from appetite suppressant herbal supplement Hoodia gordonii”; with Pawar, Shukla, S Khan, Avula; featured in Steroids, 2007

• “The role of chemical fingerprinting: application to Ephedra”; with Schaneberg, Crockett, Bedir; featured in Phytochemistry, 2003

• “Determinant of the Appetite Suppressant P57 in Hoodia gordonii Plant Extracts and Dietary Supplements by Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LC-MSD-TOF) and LC-UV Methods”; with Avula, Wang, Pawar, Shukla, Schaneberg; featured in the Journal of AOAC International, 2006

• “Chemical fingerprint of Hoodia species, dietary supplements, and related genera by using HPTLC”; with Rumalla, Avula, Shukla, Wang, Pawar, Smillie; featured in the Journal of Separation Science, 2008

• “Identification and structural characterization of steroidal glycosides in Hoodia gordonii by ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry”; with Avula, Wang, Pawar, Shukla, Smillie; featured in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2008

• “Macroscopic and Microscopic Authentication of Chinese and North American Species of Ephedra”; with Joshi; featured in the Journal of AOAC International, 2005

• “A Comprehensive Approach to Identifying and Authenticating Botanical Products”; with Smillie; featured in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 2010