The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is honoring Emory ethnobotanist Cassandra Quave for her commitment to public science outreach, presenting her with an inaugural Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication by a Research Scientist.
Quave will receive $20,000 in an awards ceremony Nov. 11 in Washington D.C. as one of 24 winners from the different categories, including leading scientists, journalists and authors.
“The exemplary work that these award winners are doing to accurately and engagingly communicate about science to the public has never been more important,” says Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “In an often complicated, murky and distorted communications environment, these superb communicators are shining a light on critical truths, facts and evidence that people need to make informed decisions about their lives.”
In 2021, Viking published Quave’s memoir, “The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Best Medicines.” The book celebrates Quave’s life in science, starting with her roots in rural Florida, where she thrived as an active, curious child despite major physical disabilities. It chronicles how she found her passion for research as an Emory undergraduate and later returned to the university to establish one of the world’s top laboratories for ethnobotany — the study of how traditional people use plants for survival.
“Science is meant to be shared,” says Quave, associate professor in Emory’s Center for the Study of Human Health and the School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology. “I’m passionate about translating my research on the role of plants in medicine and the importance of food to our health to a broad audience. It’s also relevant to planetary health and to understanding our place in the world.”
In addition to authoring more than 100 scientific publications, Quave has written articles on ethnobotany for broader audiences that have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Conversation. She also gives frequent interviews to journalists seeking her scientific expertise. Quave’s research has been featured by the New York Times Magazine, the BBC, NPR, PBS and the National Geographic Channel, among many others. In addition to TV and film appearances, she’s been a guest on 32 podcasts and radio shows and given more than 100 public talks to general audiences during the past five years.
The awards committee cited the range of Quave’s science communications outreach. She co-created and hosts a podcast, “Foodie Pharmacology,” which has accumulated 70,000 downloads in its fourth year. Her YouTube channel, “Teach Ethnobotany,” has 6,400 subscribers and 660,000 views.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars, established by an act of Congress in 1863, charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. It partnered with the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures to launch the communication awards this year.
The gathering of the 24 winners in Washington in November will include a science communications workshop.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the other award recipients to get additional science communications training and to trade tips,” Quave says. “It’s another great learning opportunity.”
Quave is currently working on a new popular science book proposal based on an undergraduate course she teaches called Food, Health and Society.