Gail Hughes

Gail Hughes is a Professor and the Director of South African Herbal Science and Medicine Institute at University of Western Cape, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Bellville South Africa.
She is a public health professional trained as an epidemiologist with more than 25+ years of experience as an academic, researcher, international consultant, and senior management in the pharmaceutical industry. She received both her masters and doctorate at University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Hughes is a South African National Research Foundation(NRF) rated scientist, has been awarded NRF, USAID, CDC, AHRQ and numerous NIH grants/contracts for research, and was twice awarded the South African Medical Research Council Distinguished Scientist.

She serves as an executive board member of Public Health Association of South Africa, and chair for PHASA’s Special Interest Group-- Integrative Complementary, Alternative Traditional Health Practice; a member and contributing leader to American Public Health Association’s Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice committee.

Professor Hughes has authored numerous publications in both national and international peer reviewed journals; editor of several journals and contributor of book chapters.
Her current research investigates Medical Pluralism: Integration of Complementary, Alternative and Traditional Medicine/Practice for chronic conditions/diseases in resource constrained communities.