Paul Alan Cox is an American
ethnobotanist
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...
whose scientific research focuses on discovering new medicines by studying patterns of wellness and illness among indigenous peoples. Cox was born in Salt Lake City in 1953.
Education
After receiving his B.S. in Botany and Philosophy from Brigham Young University, he was awarded a
Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
to read for his M.Sc. in Ecology at the
University of Wales at Bangor. He received a
Danforth Fellowship
The Danforth Foundation was one of the largest private nonprofit foundations in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. It closed its doors in 2011 after 84 years of operation and more than a billion dollars in grants distributed.
Background
Establishe ...
and a
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship for his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
studies at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in Biology where, twice, he was awarded the
Bowdoin Prize The Bowdoin Prizes are prestigious awards given annually to Harvard University undergraduate and graduate students. From the income of the bequest of Governor James Bowdoin, AB 1745, prizes are offered to students at the University in graduate and ...
, a distinction he shares with
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
. He was appointed as a Miller Fellow at the
Miller Institute
The Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science was established on the University of California, Berkeley, campus in 1955 after Adolph C. Miller and his wife, Mary Sprague Miller, made a donation to the university. It was their wish that the d ...
for Basic Research in Science at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
and as a
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
Research Fellow in
Australia. Early in his academic career he was named a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator by
Ronald Reagan, and used the research funds to pursue his interests in mathematical biology and ethnobotany.
Career
After serving as professor and dean at
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
he became the first
King Carl XVI Gustaf
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973.
He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...
Professor of Environmental Science at the
Swedish Agricultural University and the
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance during ...
, a visiting professorship established by the
Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...
.
![Cox & Senio 1997 Goldman Environmental Prize](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Cox_%26_Senio_1997_Goldman_Environmental_Prize.jpg)
For seven years he was director of the Congressionally-chartered
National Tropical Botanical Garden
The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) is a Hawaii-based not-for-profit institution dedicated to tropical plant research, conservation, and education. It operates a network of botanical gardens and preserves in Hawaii and Florida.
History
I ...
(NTBG) in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Currently, he is executive director of the Brain Chemistry Labs, in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre and Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the Un ...
.
He is the author of over 220 scientific papers, reviews, and books and was chosen by ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine as one of eleven "Heroes of Medicine" in 1997 for his search for new
medicines from plants.
Evolutionary ecology
Cox began his research in
evolutionary ecology as a student of
John L. Harper at the
University of Wales
, latin_name =
, image =
, caption = Coat of Arms
, motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd
, mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth
, established =
,
, type = Confederal, non-member ...
in Bangor by studying
dioecy in plants. At
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
where he served for four years as Teaching Fellow for
E. O. Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, entomologist and writer. According to David Attenborough, Wilson was the world's leading expert in his specialty of myrmecology, the study of an ...
, he studied how vertebrate pollination influenced breeding system evolution in tropical lianas. Collaborating at Harvard with tropical botanist
P. B. Tomlinson, at Berkeley with
Herbert G. Baker
Herbert George Baker (February 23, 1920 – July 2, 2001) was a British-American botanist and evolutionary ecologist who was an authority on pollination biology and breeding systems of angiosperms. He described what became known as "Baker's ru ...
, and Melbourne with Bruce Knox, he used mathematical search theory to analyze seagrass pollination and later, with mathematician
James Sethian
James Albert Sethian is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley and the head of the Mathematics Grouat the United States Department of Energy, United States Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laborat ...
used search theory to develop a new approach to the evolution of different size sperm and eggs, known as
anisogamy, a topic he continued to pursue with Japanese biologist Tatsuya Togashi. He discovered with colleagues Sandra Banack and James Metcalf in
cyanobacteria AEG, a hypothesized backbone of peptide nucleic acids in the pre-
RNA world
The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on Earth, in which self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins. The term also refers to the hypothesis that posits the existen ...
early in the earth's history. They are studying possible health consequences of exposure to isomers of AEG and other cyanobacterial toxins, including
beta-Methylamino-L-alanine
β-Methylamino--alanine, or BMAA, is a non-proteinogenic amino acid produced by cyanobacteria. BMAA is a neurotoxin and its potential role in various neurodegenerative disorders is the subject of scientific research.
Structure and properties ...
(BMAA).
Ethnobotany
Although trained in
evolutionary ecology, because of his fluency in
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family.
There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austro ...
, Cox was encouraged by Harvard Professor
Richard Evans Schultes to pursue ethnobotanical studies. He became increasingly focused on
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 ...
after his mother died from
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
. Subsequently, with his colleagues Gordon Cragg, Michael Boyd, and others at the
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
, they discovered the
anti-HIV/AIDS properties of
prostratin found in the bark of the mamala tree of Samoa. He was elected as president 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 ...
and has been president of the
International Society for Ethnopharmacology
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
. Together with Michael Balick, he wrote, ''Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany''., and for his ethnobotanical studies was awarded the
E. K. Janaki Ammal Medal from India, and the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal by the
Garden Club of America
The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the record ...
. He is a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry
The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry ( sv, Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien), formerly the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture (''Kungl. Lantbruksakademien''), founded in 1813 at the initiative of Crown Prince Charles, is on ...
, a Fellow of the
Linnean Society of London
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 appointed Adjunct Professor at the
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), founded in 1959, is located in Mengla County, Xishuangbanna at 21º55' N, 101º15'E, covering an area of 1125 ha. Over 13,000 species of tropical plants ...
by the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
and at the College of Pharmacy by the
University of Illinois, Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois sy ...
. Currently, he is searching for a cure for
ALS,
Alzheimer's, and other tangle diseases.
Conservation
In 1997 he received the
Goldman Environmental Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. ...
for the conservation efforts described in his book, ''Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rainforest'' (New York: W.H. Freeman), which has been translated into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, and
Samoan. He speaks a variety of island languages and is internationally-renowned for his advocacy of indigenous peoples. Cox lived with his family in the village of
Falealupo
Falealupo is a village in Samoa situated at the west end of Savai'i island from the International Date Line used until 29 December 2011. The village has two main settlements, Falealupo-Uta, situated inland by the main island highway and Falealu ...
on
Savai'i island in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
where he helped create a covenant with chiefs to protect their lowland rainforest from logging. In 1988, he was bestowed the
Nafanua
Nafanua was a historical ''ali'i'' (chief/queen) and ''toa'' (warrior) of Samoa from the Sā Tonumaipe'ā clan, who took four ''pāpā'' (district) titles, the leading ali'i titles of Samoa. After her death she became a goddess in Polynesian reli ...
''
matai'' chief title by Falealupo, one of the highest legendary titles in Samoa, in honor of his conservation efforts.
[Congressional Record: Eni F.H. Faleomavaega](_blank)
/ref>
Dr. Cox founded the environmental nonprofit organization, Seacology
Seacology is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization headquartered in Berkeley, California, that works to preserve island ecosystems and cultures around the world. Founded in 1991, it began with the work of ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox, ...
, located in Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, which has preserved over 1.5 million acres of island forests and coral reefs, and was named a Laureate for the Prince's Prize for Innovative Philanthropy in 2015 by Albert II, Prince of Monaco.
At the request of Governor Scott M. Mattheson, Cox helped defeat the MX missile
The LGM-118 Peacekeeper, originally known as the MX for "Missile, Experimental", was a MIRV-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) produced and deployed by the United States from 1985 to 2005. The missile could carry up to twelve Mark ...
project proposed for Utah and Nevada, led the successful effort to establish the 50th U.S. National Park, The National Park of American Samoa, and was a delegate to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
) in Lausanne, Switzerland to protect flying fox
''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names.
They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Aust ...
species in Pacific islands.
Faith
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
, Cox emerged as a prominent voice for biological conservation
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...
. He served a mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
in Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
and is active in his church.Mormon Scholars Testify
/ref>
References
Bibliography
* , in
*
External links
Seacology
Brain Chemistry Labs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Paul Alan
Living people
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Brigham Young University faculty
21st-century American botanists
American Mormon missionaries in Samoa
Ethnobotanists
Samoan chiefs
Brigham Young University alumni
1953 births
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry
Latter Day Saints from California
Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts
Latter Day Saints from Hawaii
Latter Day Saints from Florida
Latter Day Saints from Wyoming
American expatriates in Sweden
Goldman Environmental Prize awardees