FAU’s Maria Fadiman worked with the Kichwa community--the largest indigenous ethnic group in the Ecuadorian Amazon--to test the prevailing theory that their selection of medicinal plants is not random, and that they select plants based on therapeutic efficacy.

The study was the first on this matter to analyze data collected at the village-level rather than the national level. It was also one of the most diverse investigations of the non-random medicinal plants selection theory, because it includes analysis by gender, age, and exposure to outside influences from working with ecotourism projects. The study’s results strengthen the non-random medicinal selection theory.

• Maria Fadiman