Medical Botany: How Plants and Their Compounds Can Heal Us

Plants have been used to treat medical conditions in humans for thousands of years. Drugs used to treat malaria, HIV/AIDS, and even cancer have been derived from plants found growing in many different parts of the world. Today there is a resurgence of pharmaceutical interest in plants and the chemical compounds they produce. In this presentation, we will learn about the history of medical botany, why plants produce these chemicals, the traditional use of plants in cultures around the world, and how plants continue to have the power to heal us today.

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Theresa Culley is a professor of plant biology at the University of Cincinnati, where she has taught a course in Medical Botany for over 20 years. Now team-taught with Dr. Eric Tepe, this undergraduate course has become one of the most popular upper-level elective classes for students within the biology department. In this course, Theresa indulges her interest in medicine, intertwined with her fascination for botany and history. Theresa’s botanical research at UC focuses on the conservation biology of endangered plant species (mainly in the Hawaiian Islands) as well as the genetic identity and reproductive biology of invasive ornamental plant species.

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