12:30 pm Norman R. Farnsworth Lecture by Dr. Elaine Elisabetsky

2023 (17th annual Garden Walk)

Collaborative Research to discover new drug leads and a Love Affair with the Atkins Medicinal Plant Garden: A Journey – presented by Dr. D. Doel Soejarto, Professor Emeritus.

2022 (16th annual Garden Walk)

Lichens – evolutionary insights into colorful chemical factories. – presented by Dr. Thorsten Lumbsch

2021 (15th Garden Walk | Hydrid event w/online lecture and virtual walk)

Plant Medicines in Integrative Cancer Care – presented by Dr. Charlotte Gyllenhaal

2020 (14th Garden Walk | Virtual Event)

This year featured a virtual tour led by the Director of the Atkins Garden, Dr. Doel Soejarto, and organized by the following pharmacognosy experts and contributors: Dr. Bethany Elkington, Dr. James Graham, Dr. Jonathan Bisson, Dr. Bernard Santarsiero, and Dr. Guido Pauli.

2019 (13th Garden Walk)

Superfruits – Why are they good for you?  – presented by Dr. David Seigler

2018 (12th Garden Walk)

What is in a name? The complexity of Medicinal Plant Products – presented by Dr. Joseph Betz

2017 (11th Garden Walk)

no speaker

2016 (10th Garden Walk)

Medicinal plants in relation to diet: global ethnobotanical and laboratory insights for the health of contemporary North Americans – presented by Dr. Timothy Johns

2015 (9th Garden Walk)

Medical Ethnobotany and the Discovery of New Drugs for Antibiotic Resistance Infections – presented by Dr. Cassandra L. Quave

2014 (8th Garden Walk)

Understanding Traditional Healing Plants of Tropical Rainforest in Northern South America – presented by Dr. Memory Elvin-Lewis

2013 (7th Garden Walk)

In Quest of Tomorrow’s Medicine from Native Plants of the Prairie – presented by Dr. Barbara Timmermann

2012 (6th Garden Walk)

Ethnobotany and the Discovery of New Drugs – presented by Dr. Paul A. Cox

2011 (5th Garden Walk)

Recent Advances in the Development of Anticancer Agents from Plants and Other Natural Sources – presented by Dr. Gordon M. Cragg

2010 (4th Garden Walk)

From Folk Medicine to Phytomedicine: Medicinal Plants in the Modern World – presented by Steven Foster

2009 (3rd Garden Walk)

Conservation & Preservation of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants: Effects of Climate Change & Direct Human Activity & Solutions – presented by Mark Blumenthal

2008 (2nd Garden Walk – 2-day event)

• Harald Schwarz (Hopsteiner – S.S. Steiner, Inc., New York): “Hop growing and usage”
• Bethany Elkington (Ph.D. candidate, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago):  “Biological  evaluation of plants of Laos used in the treatment of tuberculosis in Lao Traditional Medicine”
• Paul Matthew (Hopsteiner – S.S. Steiner, Inc., New York): “Towards metabolic engineering of phytoestrogen content of hops”
• Norman Farnsworth (College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago): “Medicinal Plants of the United States used in Disease Treatment”
• Gail Mahady (College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago): “Medicinal Plants from Central America used in Women’s Health”

2007 (1st Garden Walk – 2-day event)

• Keith Block (Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care, Evanston, Illinois): “Plants and cancer: Diet and botanicals”
• Judy Bolton (College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago): “Botanical dietary supplements as natural hormone replacement therapy”
• Norman Farnsworth (College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago): “Work at the UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research for Women’s Health”
• Greg Stack (University of Illinois Extension, Urbana-Champaign/Illinois Urban Programs Resource Network): “Making Medicinal Plants Part of the Ornamental Garden”
• Djaja Doel Soejarto (College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago): “Discovering Plants That Cure”