Dr. Cassandra L. Quave is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, where she leads anti-infective drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, food, and health. As a medical ethnobotanist, her work focuses on the documentation and pharmacological evaluation of plants used in traditional medicine. She has led field expeditions in the Amazon, Mediterranean and the Balkans. Plants are the basis for an array of lifesaving and health-improving medicines we all now take for granted. Most of us would not be able to name the plants and trees around us, in communities and regions we live in. There are almost 400,000 different species of plants on Earth, and out of those roughly 9% of plant life has been studied and documented. We have a lot to learn, and Dr. Quave has made that learning her mission. In this conversation Dr. Quave shares her lessons learned as she explores the role of plants in history and culture, medicine and nutrition. Tune in to learn more and check out Dr. Quave's recent book "The Plant Hunter". This podcast is brought to you by Emory Lifestyle Medicine & Wellness. To learn more about our work, please visit https://bit.ly/EmoryLM
Dr. Cassandra L. Quave is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, where she leads anti-infective drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, food, and health. She earned degrees in biology and anthropology (B.S.) from Emory University in 2000, and a Ph.D. in biology in 2008 from Florida International University under the direction of Dr. Brad Bennett. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences under the direction of Dr. Mark Smeltzer (2009-2011) and in human health at Emory University under the direction of Dr. Michelle Lampl (2011-2012). As a medical ethnobotanist, her work focuses on the documentation and pharmacological evaluation of plants used in traditional medicine. She has led field expeditions in the Amazon, Mediterranean and the Balkans. Dr. Quave’s research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, industry contracts, and philanthropy. She is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a past President of the Society for Economic Botany, a recipient of the Emory Williams Teaching Award, and Charles Heiser, Jr. Mentor Award. This year, Dr. Quave was honored with the American Botanical Council’s James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award and the American Herbal Products Association Herbal Insight Award. She serves on the editorial boards for Natural Product Reports, Scientific Reports, and Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, and is an associate editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Beyond her academic research and teaching activities, Dr. Quave dedicates significant effort to scientific outreach and engagement with the public. She is the co-creator and host of “Foodie Pharmacology,” a podcast dedicated to exploring the links between food and medicine, now in its fourth season. She is the creator of the “Teach Ethnobotany” channel on YouTube, which is dedicated to sharing educational videos about botanicals, pharmacology, and natural products. Dr. Quave has authored more than 100 scientific publications, one popular science book, two edited books, twenty book chapters, and seven patents; her work has been cited in the scientific literature more than 5,000 times. Her research has been the subject of feature profiles in the New York Times Magazine, BBC Science Focus, National Geographic Magazine, NPR, PBS, and the National Geographic Channel. She has written opinion essays for The Wall Street Journal and The Conversation. Quave is author of an acclaimed science memoir, The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines (Viking, 2021), which was listed as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year by Kirkus Reviews.
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