WVSU to host American Council for Medicinally Active Plants Conference Oct. 18-21

10/18/2023

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Contact: Jack Bailey
(304) 766-4109
Jbaile19@wvstateu.edu
     
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- West Virginia State University (WVSU) will host the 12^th annual American Council for Medicinally Active Plants (ACMAP) Conference from Oct. 18-21. 

The international conference will feature a diverse lineup of sessions and speakers that will explore the chemical effects of various health issues such as cancer and obesity. 

ACMAP’s mission is to promote and foster research, development and conservation of plants useful to human health. The conference theme is “Exploring the Unexplored: Science and Applications of Medicinal Plants,” and will focus on scientific advances in several health areas, including anticancer plant bioactives, chemistry of medicinal plants, plant-based antimicrobials, and the newly emerging field of hemp and medicinal cannabis. 

Dr. Cassandra Quave, a professor of ethnobotany at Emory University, is the conference’s plenary speaker. Her presentation, entitled “Ethnobotany as a tool for targeted discovery of bioactive natural products,” is set for 5-6 p.m. on Oct. 18 at WVSU’s Davis Fine Arts Building. 

The conference’s second day will begin with a presentation from Srinivasa Rao Mentreddy from Alabama A&M University, entitled “Developing turmeric as a high value medicinal crop in Alabama.” The presentation will run from 8:30-9 a.m. on Oct. 19 at the Davis Fine Arts Building. At the end of the second day, Quave will hold a book signing from 5-7 p.m. in the Wilson Student Union. 

The conference’s third day, Oct. 20, will begin with a presentation from Gary O. Rankin of Marshall University, entitled “Searching Nature for the Cure.” His presentation will run from 8:30-9 a.m. in the Davis Fine Arts Building. A closing ceremony gala dinner and awards will run from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Wilson Student Union. 
The final day of the conference, Oct. 21, will feature an on-site tour of medicinal plants of Kanawha State Forest beginning at 9 a.m. 

In total, the conference will feature more than 20 speakers from universities and organizations across the country including Yale, Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Texas A&M and Purdue. 

More information about the conference, including the complete agenda of speakers, is available at www.acmap.org.

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West Virginia State University is a public, land-grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.