Israel Brekhman - Career

Career

I. I. Brekhman won a place at the Naval Medical Academy of the U.S.S.R. in Leningrad, specializing in pharmacology. Upon his graduation as a medical doctor in 1945, he was sent by the Navy to the Far East of Russia, where he spent the rest of his life. During his 45 years of research, Brekhman became an authority on adaptogens. He is best known in the West for his pioneering work on "Siberian" ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus).

Much of the scientific literature on Eleutherococus is from Brekhman's articles on this tonic herb. Two years after Brekhman's first published work, "A New Medicinal Plant of the Family of Araliaceae -- The Spiny Eleutherococcus" (1960), the Eleutherococcus extract was approved by the Pharmacological Committee of the Ministry of Health of the USSR for clinical use as a "stimulant."

For his discoveries and work developing natural plant substances, Dr. Brekhman held nearly 40 patents, including 21 international patents. He published 22 monographs and hundreds of scientific articles and books. Many books and journals on adaptogens, published in the United States, Japan, and Sweden, have been based on Brekhman and his work.

During the Cold War era Brekhman pioneered a scientific effort funded by the Russian government involving a reported 1,200 scientists. This scientific community explored plant biological codes and analyzed their molecular structures. After 45-years of research and thousands of clinical trials, a patented formulation, Prime One, was created.

The Soviet Union and The Russian Parliament bestowed on Brekhman the Order of Lenin, The Lenin Medal for valiant work, as well as the Certificate of Honour. These awards came to him for studying the genetic codes of plants, uncovering the molecular structures of their phytochemicals, and his lifetime work with adaptogens.

As the founder and permanent director of the Committee for the Study of Far East Medicinal Plants, Brekhman also headed the Department for Regulation of Biological Processes at the Pacific Oceanographic Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He served on the board of the Russian Academy of Technological Sciences and the International Organization of Adaptive Medicine in Frankfurt, Germany, and was an advisor to the Annual Dead Sea Conferences on Well-being.

Brekhman organized and led three international symposia on adaptogens in Hamburg, Moscow, and Khabarovsk. He also participated in many international congresses and conferences (London, Tokyo, Prague, St. Petersburg). He served on various international committees and was invited to lecture at the Universities of London, Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen.