Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer 
HIS FATHER was a medicine man a herbal one. Trevor Yee, the scientist who is currently in charge of the Natural Products Institute (NPI) at the University of the West Indies, Mona, purpose-fully mentions this in his interview, noting that Simson Yee, his Chinese-born parent, was a practitioner of this Chinese healing tradition.
Now that he has settled into natural products research, the son knows that this was his inheritance one which he was several decades late in accepting.
For many years Trevor Yee worked in the family business, becoming managing director and chairman of National Industries Company Limited, a part of the Henkel group of companies in Kingston.
It was only five years ago that he started making full use of his father's legacy and his science degrees, with the exciting mandate of making money out of herb-type products.
Yee the man chosen in 2000 to spearhead what, for the scientific community, is an exciting new direction was born in Kingston to parents Simson and Florence Yee, who came from China and Hong Kong, respectively.
His father's main profession was that of a shopkeeper. The family's last grocery was St. Andrew Suppliers at the corner of Red Hills Road and Eastwood Park Avenue.
Mother Florence Yee came to Jamaica originally as a teacher at the Chinese School and met and married Simson. Trevor's mom was married twice, and Lascelles Chin of Lasco is his brother from her first marriage.
His parents were involved in doing business, but his father's heart was into healing. Simson Yee, Trevor Yee said, was a very principled man who did not fail to impress on his son his respect for herbal medicine.
"He never collected a penny for what he did. But, people came to him. He cured them and they brought gifts."
One day, the son recalls, a lady came with a goitre-type swelling and his father wrote a prescription for her to purchase herbs which were then readily available on Barry Street. She later returned to express her appreciation.
Simson Yee encouraged his children to go to university. Of the three girls and five boys who he and his wife had, six were to complete studies at university level, including Trevor Yee.
A student of St. George's College, Trevor loved chemistry and moved on to do extended studies in the natural products area of this field. He studied right up to his PhD at the University of the West Indies and also completed a post doctoral fellowship at British Columbia University in Canada in organic chemistry.
But, for 25 years, Dr. Yee focused on the family business. As Managing director and chairman of National Industries Company Limited, he oversaw the production of cosmetics, which were exported throughout the Caribbean and Central America.
Yee's interest in natural products never waned, however. He remained involved in the UWI and was president of the institution's Natural History Society for many years .
In 2000, with the downturn in manufacturing and the passing of the years, he was more than ready for change.
Jamaica is behind the times, this scientist now notes.
In China, he said, many herbal remedies are available for diseases caused by lifestyle practices. These have also penetrated the market internationally. Jamaica is a little behind Europe and the United states in getting many of these on the shelves.
Part of the work of the NPI involves looking at getting some of these products regularized so that they can be more easily available locally.
The University of the West Indies has been doing research in the area of natural products for many years Dr. Yee notes. Some of the results include the creation of Canosol from the ganja plant by professor Manley West and Dr. Albert Lockhart as a treatment for Glaucoma. Professor Errol Morrison has also done much work on anti-diabetic substances.
However, no research was done with commercial production and export in mind.
New products for which a commercial outlet are being sought at the NPI include a bio pesticide made from substances like ackee plant extracts.
The role of the NPI, now six years old, is to turn the university's research into gold.
Products such as "Pycnogenol, Vitamin E, evening primrose and functional foods such as soy and ginko biloba are doing very well internationally where there is a tremendously big market for natural products," says Yee.
"In the year 2000 the market was actually US$140 billion and demand has been growing at 10 per cent and more on average," he adds.
Jamaica, Dr. Trevor Yee notes, has been commercialising its essential oils, including pimento for which Jamaica is the source of over 90 per cent of the world supply. Pimento is in demand for its spicy notes used in men's personal care products, its leaf oil and berry oil used widely in food.
NPI, the scientist says, has also been doing a lot of its own research on plants, as well as work on the validation of existing formulas.
Natural products include anything that emerges from nature. From a 2001 study, it was shown that Jamaica has 3000 higher or vascular plants. Out of this number, 30 per cent or around 900 are endemic. "We are therefore sitting on tremendous wealth," the scientist opines.
The NPI offers several client services including validation of existing herbal applications. In Train Line District, in St. Ann, it has been assisting a group of farmers by checking into the safety of the herbs that the group has been cultivating and marketing. The group, Herbal Renaissance, has found that there is a demand for a number of legitimate herbs such as sarsaparilla, comfrey, chainy root, bitter wood and search-mi-heart. Based on the report done by the NPI, the farmers have been cultivating a number of these herbs and marketing them locally and overseas.
"We are a biodiversity hot spot," Dr. Yee states convincingly.
Local research has proven that 80 per cent of patients take traditional herbal remedies and teas together with prescribed medicines. The NPI is also looking at herbal interactions with prescribed medicine. Yet another project is checking into he impact of several natural products on disease states.
Dr. Trevor Yee, who is unmarried, says that he is not a workaholic, but he does work hard. The great outdoors provides him with his main means of relaxation. He enjoys many evenings and weekends spent with the Natural History Society.
Finding lovely views, going hiking and involvement in Holy Cross Church are high on his agenda of weekly must-do's.
A son of the Orient, his inheritance now brings him a peaceful and productive way of life.
