[photo credit: The Huntington]
On November 17, Michael Stanley-Baker will explore this intersection at The Huntington Library, tracing how Chinese medicine has historically absorbed foreign drugs and what that tells us about preserving therapeutic plants today.
“Chinese medicine has a long tradition of thinking about the relationship between the places where drugs originate and their efficacy,” Stanley-Baker notes.
Stanley-Baker, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, brings unusual credentials: a PhD from University College London, clinical training in Chinese medicine from Ruseto College, Boulder CO, and fieldwork experience with healers in Taiwan and China. He serves as president of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine.
His research identifies approximately 300 drugs appearing in both 12th-century Chinese texts and modern pharmacological dictionaries. But medicinal plants acquired different names as they traveled across regions and languages.
“New digital tools allow us to trace long chains of connections—from ancient Chinese documents and historical geography, through modern botany and biochemistry, as well as across different regional languages,” Stanley-Baker says.
His “Drugs Across Asia” database creates standardized records allowing researchers to follow individual medicines through space, language, and time, linking historical texts to modern phytochemical research and offering applications in conservation and medical agriculture.
The event is supported by the Carol, Edward, Ariana, and Joseph Wong Trust.
“When Drugs Leave Their Place of Origin: The Longue Durée of Chinese Medical Migration” will run on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, at 2:30-3:30 p.m. Rothenberg Hall, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit https://www.huntington.org/event/when-drugs-leave-their-place-origin-longue-duree-chinese-medical-migration. Ticket prices: Free with reservation (also available via livestream).
