PRESIDENT'S REPORT
ALL EYES ON COSTA RICA FOR SRF'S 2004 EXPEDITION

Spring has finally arrived with plans being finalized for our 2004 expedition. This year our destination will be Costa Rica. It will be exciting to 'spread our wings” to a new country with one of the most pristine rainforest areas on the planet.

I would like to thank each of you for your support in the past. Even the smallest donation is greatly appreciated by this organization. The SRF could not exist without YOU! Please help us continue this positive life and educational experience for our college students.

Our future plans for this organization continue to grow. With a very qualified Board of Advisors, we are working with several schools to help students receive college credits for their trip. The School of Pharmacy at the University of Montana will be the first school offering credits to students who participate in the SRF experience. I want to personally thank the efforts of Dr. Gayle Cochran, Director of Experiential Education at the School of Pharmacy & Allied Health Sciences at the University of Montana, who has staunchly supported our program and was instrumental in allocating credits for the trip.

This accomplishment alone will show the commitment and credibility of the SRF. I am hopeful that the LECOM school of pharmacy in Erie, PA will do likewise in 2005. In the future our goal is to continue to visit and experience various rainforests throughout the world. We are vigorously pursuing foundation grants, and we hope to expand the SRF program to other universities throughout the U.S.

We continue to exist because of you. Every dollar we receive helps us minimize costs to the students and expands our possibilities. Each year our budget increases as we return home from the trip with depleted funds. Our commitment and enthusiasm never dies as we start over again.

Please remember us with your tax-deductible contribution. Thank you again for your support.

In health and sprit,
-Dr. Daniel Wagner, RPh, MBA, PharmD, President

Itinerary : SRF travels to Costa Rica in June

After eight consecutive years in Belize, Central America, the members of the Student Rainforest Fund (SRF) are ready to head a few hundred miles north to the beautiful land called “rich coast” or Costa Rica. From June 17-24, 2004, a 32-member group of students and faculty will be visiting the largest botanical garden in Central America, a biosphere reserve, indigenous reserve, and a national park.

This year SRF will have students from 6 universities including Duquesne, Pitt, Erie (LECOM), Montana, Bastyr, Shenendoah, and John Hopkins. The faculty for the Costa Rican expedition include president Dr. Dan Wagner, and Board members Dr. Steve Morris from Bastyr University and Dr. Wendell Combest from Shenendoah University. We are pleased to include graduate students Julie Simkins, R.Ph., and Nick Radio, R.Ph. This year.

Las Cruces Biological Station and Wilson Botanical Gardens

The Wilson Botanical Gardens is located in San Vito Coto Brus, on the Pacific coastal range of Costa Rica. The drive is six hours from the capital city San Jose. The Wilson Botanical Garden is the largest and most important in the Neotropic. It is a prestigious center of service to students and researchers alike. It maintains a 256 hectors with 12 gardens and extensive primary forests. The garden is enhanced by more than 7,000 species of plants, 330 species of birds, white-faced monkeys, armadillos, porcupines, among others. The climate will be fresh; elevation 1,200 meters above the sea on the Talamanca Mountain Range. Average temperature is 70 degrees and rain is expected. It is part of the Amistad Biosphere Reserve.

Guaymi Indigenous Reserve - Coto Brus

The Guaymi Indigenous reserve is comprised of 1,500 inhabitants inside a great forest in Coto Brus. Their ancestors migrated from Panama in the 1940s. Their pattern of settlement is dispersed; they practice shifting agriculture, cultivating beans, corn, and rice for both domestic use and commercial trade. They also harvest a number of trees and root crops, including sweet manioc, sweet potatoes, pejibaye, and nampi. Their shamans have secret knowledge of the use of hundreds of medicinal and curative plants.

La Selva Biological Station

Our final major destination will take us to the Caribbean lowlands at the northern base of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The La Selva Biological Station, managed by Dr. Luis Diego, is 96 km from San Jose and is recognized internationally as one of the premier facilities for rain forest research in the region. La Selva has a wide diversity of rainforests with 50,000 hectors of tropical rainforests in the vicinity. Near La Selva the team will visit the Malekus Indigenous Reserve located in San Rafael de Guatuso. These Indians have extensive ethno botanical knowledge. Tafa (the shaman) and its people will welcome our group and guide us into the forest and sacred sites around the reserve.

In addition to touring, site-seeing, and visiting the local indigenous peoples, the students will also be attending a number of faculty's educational lectures. Dr. Luis Diego, director of Las Crucos Biological Station will give a lecture on “Medicinal Plants of Costa Rica and the Wilson Botanical Garden.” Dr. Steve Morris will present a lecture entitled “Medicinal Botany.” Dr. Wendell Combest will speak on “Developing New Drugs from Plants.” Dr. Wagner's lecture is entitled “Herbal Medicine Meets Clinical Science.”

Our hope is that you will continue to support the unique vision that SRF has exemplified for nearly a decade will continue to generously support this endeavor.

WHAT THE STUDENTS ARE SAYING !!!

“I have a lot of very wonderful memories. Rosita and her farm were absolutely wonderful. I am so thankful to you and the SRF that I was able to experience life in Belize and broaden my worldview." - Jamie Kennedy, Univ. of Montana

“Thank you for the wonderful and very informative trip to Belize. I really enjoyed myself and learned a great deal.” - Mike Safranas, Univ of Montana

“I learned a lot, met great people, and saw things that I would have never had an opportunity to do on my own. The trip was enlightening and life changing for me.” - Debra Davis, Duquesne University

“I greatly appreciate the fabulous memories of our adventurous journey that you have made possible. You did an incredible job in showing us not only the medicinal plants of Belize, but we were also able to see the life of the people as well as hear and observe some of the interesting history of the country.” - Annette Pail, Duquesne U.

“The country was beautiful, the group was an incredible amount of fun, and the ethnobotany was fascinating.” - Sarah Henry, Davidson U.

“This truly was an adventure of a lifetime. This is true on so many levels (mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally). As I reflect on my SRF experience I've found that I've grown even more as a person. Thank you SO much.” - Nokomie Welsh, Wilkes University School of Pharmacy

This trip changed the way I view pharmacy and will have a positive life-long effect on my career.” -Stacy Shields, Temple Univ.

“I don't know where to start in thanking SRF for giving me this incredible opportunity to go on an absolutely unforgettable and life-changing trip to Belize.” - Erin Falk, Ohio Northern University

HEALING IN OTHER CULTURES: BELIZE AND THE AMAZON
By Dr. Norbert A. Pilewski (Published in the APCE Advocate, Fall, 2003)

For hundreds of years, the healing methods used in many South and Central American tribal cultures have been passed down orally from generation to generation. Now those methods are being practiced and have been documented by two authors. Dr. Rosita Arvigo, a napropathic physician, practices Maya medicine in Belize, Central America, having completed a ten year apprenticeship under the last of the Maya priest-healers Don Elijio Panti. She documented Don Elijio's teachings in Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer (San Francesco; Harper Collins, 1994). Don Antonio Montero Pisco practices shamanic medicine in the Peruvian Amazon and has trained the first shamana, a pharmacist, Constance Grauds. Grauds has documented her training in book Jungle Medicine (San Rafael, Cal.: Citron Bay Press, 2001). I was fortunate to meet and study with both Dr. Rosita and Don Antonio.

Maya healing uses diet, herbal teas, herbal baths, incense (resin from the copol tree, and prayer in treating illness. Don Elijio diagnosed illnesses by listening to the person's pulse and by using a miniature crystal ball called a sastun. In his work, Don Elijio prayed to the four Virgins: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, and Ix Chel (Goddess Rainbow), the Mayan goddess of healing. He believed that plants have spirits, and he taught Dr. Rosita the Mayan prayers of thanks to say when collecting each plant. He believed that, without the prayers, the medicines made from plants were ineffective.

(to be continued next issue)

ETHNOBOTANY

ETHNOPHARMACY
PART OF THE SRF VISION

NEWS AND NOTES

Dr. Pilewski To Teach In Poland
Everyone on the Costa Rican expedition this year will miss Dr. Norbert Pilewski, vice-president of SRF. He is the veteran of seven other SRF trips, and is not only an inspirational leader and teacher, he is often endeared as the 'grandfather' of the group. Dr. Pilewski will be traveling to Poland for 4 weeks in June and July with Duquesne University pharmacy students. He will be teaching at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. God speed to you Norbert!

Dr. Steve Morris Teaching Ethnobotany at Bastyr University
SRF Board of Advisor member Dr. Steve Morris is teaching a course at Bastyr University in ethnobotany. The course is entitled “Ethnobotany: The Study of Plants, People and Culture” began in 2003 and will continue in 2004. Dr. Morris is a naturopathic physician who operates a private medical practice in Mukilteo, WA. He is certified by the American Herbalist Guild and has been a frequent traveler and instructor to rainforests in Central and South America.

Wedding/Honeymoon/Costa Rica
SRF President Dan Wagner will marry Lynn Caywood on May 29, 2004 at Hartwood Acres, one of Pittsburgh's preserved parks. They will honeymoon in the Cayman Islands, be back as newlyweds for one week, then Dan will be off to Costa Rica with the student group. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Will A Rainforest Herb Cure the Great Ape?
In an exciting news story, with a definite SRF connection, Dr. Wagner has been working closely with veterinarians and workers at the Pittsburgh Zoo to help treat an intestinal affliction to one of their great apes. The jungle herb being tested is called Jackass Bitters (Neurolaena lobata), a common name to all former SRF participants. It is an herb that everyone has used and investigated, and the favorite herb of SRF Board member Dr. Rosita Arvigo. Early intervention with Jackass Bitters on a 400 pound low-land gorilla has been encouraging. We hope to report next time that this story has a happy, healthy ending.

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Student Rainforest Fund
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Thank you !!!
For questions and concerns-contact Dr. Daniel Wagner at (412) 486-4588

SRF is a nonprofit research and education organization with tax exempt status under section 501(C)3 of the IRS code. Tax ID: 23-2939579