5/5/99

Contact: Assistant Vice President for University Communications and Marketing Richard Polen, (740) 593-2200

ATHENS, Ohio -- Mark Plotkin, a best-selling author and renowned ethnobotanist, will present "Tales from the Jungle" as part of Ohio University's Frontiers in Science Lecture Series at 8 p.m. May 11 in First United Methodist Church, College Street. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Plotkin has spent the past 15 years researching Amazon plants throughout Latin America with the hope of finding some that might provide cures for Alzheimer's, AIDS and cancer. He is author of "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice," a best-selling account of his time spent with the medicine men of the Amazon. Plotkin is the executive director of the Ethnobiology and Conservation Team in Washington, D.C., and also is the founder of the Shaman's Apprentice Program, a society in which tribal elders pass their knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants to younger tribe members.

Plotkin's work has been featured in the movie "Amazon" at IMAX theaters throughout the world. His work also has been profiled in "Nova," "NBC Nightly News" and "48 Hours" and in publications such as Life, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Smithsonian. He has studied at Harvard and Yale universities, earning his Ph.D. in forestry and environmental studies from Tufts University.

The Frontiers in Science Lecture Series, established in 1991 by Ohio University alumnus Jeanette G. Grasselli and Glen R. Brown, brings scientists to campus who encourage the understanding of science.