Nina Lilian Etkin (June 13, 1948 – January 26, 2009) was an anthropologist and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. Etkin was noted for her work in

medical anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and applie ...

ethnobiology ] Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.culture ...

, and ethnopharmacology. She studied the relation between food and health for over thirty years. Her work involved complementary and alternative medicines for prevention and treatment in Hawai‘i; the use of

ethnomedicine Ethnomedicine is a study or comparison of the traditional medicine based on bioactive compounds in plants and animals and practiced by various ethnic groups, especially those with little access to western medicines, e.g., indigenous peoples. The ...

s in Indonesia; and health issues in Nigeria. She won numerous grants and awards from national and international agencies and published several books as well as over 80 professional articles in peer reviewed journals.

Education and academic career

Etkin earned her undergraduate degree in

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 1970 and her MA and PhD in Anthropology in 1972 and 1975 from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, Missouri.

Academic positions

*Assistant Professor of Anthropology,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, 1979–1983 *Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, 1983–1990 *Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1990–1994 *Full Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 1994–2009. *Chair of the Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2001–2002 She was also a member of the medical faculty of the University of Hawai‘i.

Awards and honors

Etkin served as Editor in Chief of ''Economic Botany'', the journal of the

Society for Economic Botany The Society for Economic Botany is an international learned society covering the field of economic botany. It was established in 1959. Its official journal is ''Economic Botany'', published on their behalf by Springer Science+Business Media Spr ...

. She was a Fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

and a past president and honorary board member of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology. Etkin won the 2009 Distinguished Economic Botanist Award from the Society for Economic Botany.

Publications

Books

*''Plants in Indigenous Medicine & Diet: Biobehavioral Approaches'', 1986 *''Eating on the Wild Side: The Pharmacologic, Ecologic, and Social Implications of Using Noncultigens'', 1994 *''Edible Medicines: An Ethnopharmacology of Food'', 2006 *''Foods of Association: Biocultural Perspectives on Food and Beverages that Mediate Sociability'', 2009

Memorials

* The Nina L. Etkin Memorial Fund supports graduate students at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, “particularly those working in biocultural and medical anthropology”. * The UHM Campus Arboretum has an Akee tree ('' Blighia sapida'') as a memorial namesake tree dedicated with a plaque; the species chosen reflects her research interest in cultural plant exchanges between Africa and the Caribbean. * A special issue of the newsletter of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology in 2009 collected testimonials from her students and colleagues.

References

External links

Nina L. Etkin Memorial Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etkin, Nina 1948 births 2009 deaths American women anthropologists American botanists University of Hawaiʻi faculty University of Minnesota faculty Washington University in St. Louis alumni Ethnobiologists Indiana University alumni Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Economic botanists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American anthropologists