CONFERENCE - Tuesday, May 2, 2006
UNDERUTILIZED PLANTS
Their Role in Preventive Medicine, Nutrition, and Sustainability Spotlight on the Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies (ACES)
JENNIE HUNTER-CEVERA, PhD
President, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI)
SUMMARY
Central Appalachia is rich in herbal plants that have been used for centuries beginning with the Native American tribes and early settlers. Herbal plant medicine today is a $4 billion a year industry in the United States and growing. But we have very few studies to validate the use of the herbs, their mechanism of action or proper dosage. Also lacking is documentation of the indigenous knowledge and best practices for growing and harvesting herbal plants. Three universities have formed a virtual center called ACES (Appalachian Center for Ethnobotanical Studies) in the hopes of developing an identity for Central Appalachian herbal practices as well documenting and validating the use of herbal medicines by integrating a variety of scientific disciplines with social and economic development practices.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Jennie Hunter-Cevera has served as President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute since October of 1999. Prior to this, she was the Director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the E. O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which was a collaborative effort between the Lab and the University of California at Berkeley. She was cofounder of two small companies (The Biotic Network and Blue Sky Research) that did contract work for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and also consulted for five years in a variety of biotechnology fields prior to working at Berkeley. For 10 years Dr. Hunter-Cevera was employed at Cetus Corporation and served as the Director of Fermentation, Research and Development and before that at E. R. Squibb and Sons as a Research Scientist. Dr. Hunter-Cevera holds a PhD in Microbiology from Rutgers University, an M.S. in Microbiology from West Virginia University, and a B.A. in Biology from West Virginia University.
Dr. Hunter-Cevera has served as President of the Society of Industrial Microbiology (SIM) and of the United States Federation of Culture Collections (USFCC). She served as Senior Editor for the Journal of Industrial Microbiology for ten years. Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as a member on former USDA Secretary Glickman's Genetic Resources Advisory Board and President Clinton's State Department Council on Genetically Modified Foods. Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as the United States representative to the OECD on Biological Resource Centers. She has given more than 50 invited lectures, seven keynote lectures, and is the author of several papers, chapters, and books, as well as the holder of two patents and one pending patent. Dr. Hunter-Cevera was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 1995, received the 1996 SIM Charles Porter Award, was elected as a SIM Fellow in 1997, and the West Virginia University Nath Lecturer in 1999. She was honored by her alma mater, West Virginia University, as the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. She has been honored as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women for 2003. Dr. Hunter-Cevera currently serves on Governor Ehrlich's Technology Commission for the State of Maryland and was one of six members of the Governor's Executive Council for Transition. In May of 2004, Dr. Hunter-Cevera was the recipient of the USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award. Supported by the United States Federation for Culture Collections (USFCC) and ASM, the award recognized Dr. Hunter-Cevera’s expertise in collecting, maintaining, and preserving microbial cultures. Dr. Hunter-Cevera currently serves as President of the International Marine Biotechnology Association. In the fall of 2005, the Governor appointed Dr. Hunter-Cevera to Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) Advisory Board. In February 2006, the Governor appointed her to the Maryland Governor’s Math & Science Advisory Board.
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