Healing Plants of Nigeria: Ethnomedicine and Therapeutic Applications

Anselm Adodo is a member of the Benedictine order of the Catholic Church. He was ordained a priest in 1997. He had his initial philosophical training at the studium of Philosophy in St. Benedict Monastery, Ewu, Edo State, Nigeria. Father Anselm Adodo is the founder and Director of Nigeria’s foremost herbal research Institute, the Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories, popularly called Paxherbals. He is a prominent advocate of African Herbal medicine research, indigenous knowledge systems, rural community development, health policy reform and transformation of education in Africa. Anselm holds a BA in Religious studies from University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria; and master’s degrees in Systematic Theology from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh USA; and in Medical Sociology from University of Benin, Nigeria. His doctoral degrees are in Management of Technology and Innovation from Da Vinci Institute, South Africa and in Medical Sociology from University of Benin, Nigeria. He has authored a number of books, which include: Herbs for Healing (1997), Healing Radiance of the Soul (2003), New Frontiers in African Medicine, (2005), Herbal Medicine and the revival of African Civilization (2010), Disease and Dietary patterns in Edo Central Nigeria (2013) and the best-selling Nature Power. Herbal Medicine in Tropical Africa, first published in 2000 and reprinted eight times. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Botanists and Director of Ofure (Pax) Centre for Integral Research and Development. Professor

Maurice Iwu is Africa’s foremost pharmacologist and expert in tropical medicine. He has been awarded by the Association of Lady Pharmacists, ALPS, for his role in the promotion and development of tropical medicine in various ways such as research, training of herbal practitioners and establishment of Bio-resources Development Group that promotes the sustainable utilization of natural products. He alsoset up the annual HerbFest - a herbs and food as medicine exhibition and training conference. Professor Iwu was at various times the President of the International Society of Ethnobiology and President of the Nigerian Society of Pharmacognosy. He is a member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene as well as the International Society for Medicinal Plant Research. He was a former Executive Director, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme and also a Senior Research Associate at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington D.C.