A question for the knowledgable

[Tamim]

Hello everyone.

I have been pondering about a job that I have heard of in my environmental science class. My teacher told us how the pharmaceutical companies want the rain forest to be preserved because the numerous plants in there lead to the discovery of many drugs for them.

My question is, who is it that the pharmaceutical companies hire to go into the rain forest and find these plants to develop possible life saving drugs? Do people holding a MD/PhD do this type of work? Would any one have any idea as to what this job title is?

I have been trying to find out more information about this job for a while now but am having a very hard time getting any where.

-Thanks for your time

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[Dr.Watson]

Hello everyone.

I have been pondering about a job that I have heard of in my environmental science class. My teacher told us how the pharmaceutical companies want the rain forest to be preserved because the numerous plants in there lead to the discovery of many drugs for them.

My question is, who is it that the pharmaceutical companies hire to go into the rain forest and find these plants to develop possible life saving drugs? Do people holding a MD/PhD do this type of work? Would any one have any idea as to what this job title is?

I have been trying to find out more information about this job for a while now but am having a very hard time getting any where.

-Thanks for your time

I've heard of students (hs/college/grad) collecting/analyzing plants in the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica. This is what google brings up: http://www.uah.edu/colleges/science/chemistry/setzer/Monteverde Costa Rica.htm
I'm fairly sure you can do a volunteer stint in Monteverde or just contact the PI to find out more about the project, getting involved, or the field of research in general. From my understanding, it's more of a pharmacology thing than an MD/PhD thing though.

 

[haricot]

i have a friend doing a phd in this field -- she's in a pharmacognosy program (there are a few of these), but was also looking at ethnobotany programs, i believe.