In short, medicine is simply the science of the effects of Love on repletion and depletion of the body, and the hallmark of the accomplished physician is his ability to distinguish the Love that is noble from the Love that is ugly and disgraceful.
-Plato’s Symposium, 428-347 B.C.
Background
Dr. Cassandra L. Quave is an ethnobotanist whose work is focused on the documentation and analysis of botanical remedies used in the treatment of infectious disease. Trained as a medical ethnobotanist, her expertise and interests include the complementary and alternative medical practices of the Mediterranean, and the botanical sources of anti-infectives.
Her research focuses on the study of plants used in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection for their antibacterial activity. To date, her laboratory research has focused on drug discovery efforts in the treatment of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, with a particular emphasis on targeting pathogenesis pathways. The majority of her ethnobotanical fieldwork has been done in collaboration with communities in southern Italy, although she has also collaborated with colleagues on projects throughout the Mediterranean, the Amazon, and SE Asia.
To date, she has published more than 30 scientific works and has been the PI on two National Institutes of Health research training grants. She is the lead inventor on a staphylococcal anti-biofilm drug discovered during her studies of Mediterranean medicinal plants.
In addition to her current position at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Human Health, she also serves as CEO/CSO of PhytoTEK LLC, a start-up biotech company dedicated to R&D and eventual commercialization of novel anti-infective technologies. Dr. Quave also currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine and the council of the Society for Economic Botany.
Education
Dr. Quave received her B.S. in Biology and B.S. in Anthropology and Human Biology from Emory University in 2000. After taking a few years off from school to travel and begin field research in Italy, she returned to academia to earn her PhD in Biology (with a focus on Ethnobotany) at Florida International University’s Center for Ethnobiology and Natural Products from 2003-2008 with Dr. Bradley C. Bennett. She received training as a post-doctoral fellow in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Microbiology and Immunology from 2009-2011 with Dr. Mark S. Smeltzer. She is currently employed as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Michelle Lampl in the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory University where she teaches undergraduate courses on medicinal plants, integrative health and the ethnopharmacology of foods.
I would like information about the ethnobotany class you will be teaching during the summer. I understood it was an internet course. I really would like to register but I have been unable to find the place to do it.
Thanks
Thank you for your interest in the class. To enroll in the summer web-based Medical Ethnobotany class at UALR, you first need to go through the admissions process at the school. There is a special process for non-traditional students (ie., post-bacs, transient, or non-degree seeking). You can find more info on the admissions process at the following website: http://ualr.edu/admissions/index.php/home/apply-for-admission/ I suggest that interested students begin this process early to ensure that all of the proper paperwork is in place before the summer term begins. You may also apply for transfer credits between your institution (if currently enrolled in another university) and UALR. You may wish to contact the UALR Biology department for more information regarding this process. Their web address is: http://ualr.edu/biology/