DAN MOERMAN is William E Stirton Professor of Anthropology
University of Michigan-Dearborn. His first work related to health emerged during his dissertation research with a rural black population in coastal South Carolina in the early 1970s.  St. Helena Islanders told him of their complex theory of health involving a subtle system of pressures and flavors of the blood which, if things went badly, could cause various illnesses which they treated with a series of plants (called "weeds") gathered from fields or planted in their gardens.  Since then, he has done research primarily in two areas -- medicinal plants (primarily of Native American peoples who originated the uses of most of the plants used by the Islanders), and of the impact on health of the knowledge and understanding of it that people have.  He is a participant of "Placebo Group" organized by Anne Harrington through the Harvard University Mind /Brain /Behavior Center.

Dr. Moreman is the author of Native American Ethnobotany, which received the "Annual Literature Award" of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries for 2000.