rugs, now in different levels of development. The one closest to approval is a drug called Prostratin, which inhibits the growth of HIV. Besides working in the field, Cox is the Director of National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii, where he studies and preserves endangered plant species. He is also King Carl XVI Gustaf Professor of Environmental Science in Sweden, where he researches and records Swedish healing plants (Gerber and Marandino WWW).Michael Balick received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. His fieldwork there inspired him to go into ethnobotany. “I was absolutely fascinated by the diversity, the magnitude, the splendor, and the way in which the indigenous people related to their environment.” Balick is currently Director of the Institute at the New York Botanical Garden and he teaches graduate courses and co-directs a woman’s health program at Columbia University (Gerber and Marandino WWW).Four months out of every year Balick leaves home to go to Brazil, Belize, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia to learn from the local people. He would like to set up a facility in Micronesia to gain the knowledge of traditional healing. A team of botanists, physicians, and healers would collect plant samples and then analyze them for healing properties. Balick has already established a facility like this in Central America (Gerber and Marandino WWW).Rosita Arvigo and her husband worked as naprapaths and had their own healing practice in Belize, but in 1985 she met with Maya Shaman, Don Elijio Panti and changed the course of her career. When Arvigo met Don Elijio Panti he was over 90 years old and did not have an apprentice. Without an apprentice, all of his knowledge would be lost forever. Arvigo begged Elijio to take her on as his apprentice for over a year before he finally agreed, but told her that she must stay indefinitely. She studied with him for the next 10 years. They spent days at...
