Michael J. Balick

My scientific research revolves around a central theme: the study of the relationship between plants and people. Most of these studies are in the tropics, but I enjoy wandering in the fruit and vegetable markets of the Lower East Side of New York City, looking for durians, mangosteens and other exotic fruits to share with an economic botany class. From a taxonomic perspective, my research is focused on the palm family, one of the most useful and abundant families in the tropics.

In 1980, we began a study of the economic botany and taxonomy of the babassu palm (Orbignya phalerata Mart., an economically important wild plant harvested by over two million people in northeastern Brazil who use the fruit kernels to produce edible oil and the fruit shell (endocarp) to produce charcoal for fuel. Over a dozen colleagues at institutions in Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador and Peru have been involved in this study, which also includes the collection and conservation of palm germplasm. In 1991, a synthesis of this decade of research entitled The Subsidy from Nature--Palm Forests, Peasantry and Development on an Amazon Frontier, coauthored by Anthony Anderson, Peter May and myself, was published by Columbia University Press.

Since 1987, working with Drs. Douglas Daly, Hans Beck and others, I have had a major commitment to the NYBG contract with the National Cancer Institute, collecting bulk samples of higher plants for screening as potential anti-AIDS and anti-cancer therapeutics. My focus in this work has centered on ethnopharmacological investigations, primarily in the Central American nation of Belize. To date, over 2,200 bulk collections have been made, working with fifteen traditional healers from Maya (Yucatec, Mopan, Kekchi), Garifuna (Carib), Creole, Latino, Mennonite and East Indian ethnic groups. One result of this project has been the creation of the Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation in Belize, a center devoted to the study of traditional medicine and ethnobotany, cultural education, and conservation. Other recent projects have included work in Brazil, Haiti, Thailand and India.

• Vice President and Chair of Research and Training and Director and Philecology Curator, Institute of Economic Botany, and MetLife Fellow.
• Born 1952.
• Ph.D. Harvard University (1980).
• Research Fellow in Tropical Horticulture and Economic Botany, Las Cruces Tropical Botanical Garden, Costa Rica (1975).
• Curatorial Assistant, Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames, Botanical Museum of Harvard University (1977).
• Research Assistant, Agribusiness Associates, Inc., Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts (1979).
• Research Assistant, Botanical Museum of Harvard University (1979-1980).
• Research Associate in Plant Domestication, Botanical Museum of Harvard University (1980-1986).
• Honorary Research Associate, La Salle Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela (1990- ).
• Adjunct Professor, City University of New York (1982- ).
• Lecturer in Tropical Studies, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University (1983-1991); Adjunct Professor (1991- ).
• Assistant Curator, Herbarium, The New York Botanical Garden (1980-1988);
• Visiting Research Professor, New York University (1995- )
• Assistant Director, Institute of Economic Botany (1984-1988);
• Acting Director, Institute of Economic Botany (1988-1990);
• Philecology Curator of Economic Botany (1989- );
• Director, Institute of Economic Botany (1990- ).
• Book Review Editor, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta for: Newsletter and Public Gardens, 1981-1986;
• Editorial Board, Associate Editor, Advances in Economic Botany (1985- ).
• Member, Board of Directors, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (1984-1986);
• Scientific Advisory Board, Society for Protection of Nature in Israel, U.S. Chapter (1988- );
• Member, Ethnobotany Specialist Group; Palm Specialist Group; Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (1981- );
• Council Member, Society for Economic Botany (1984-1986) and (1987-1990), President (1992-1993);
• Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation (ACTI) of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development (BOSTID), National Research Council (1988-1990);
• Member, Conservation Committee, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (1989-1992 );
• Chairman, Ix Chel Tropical Research Center, Ltd., Belize (1990- );
• Council Member, Society for Conservation Biology (1992-1995);
• Member, U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Biological Sciences (1993- ).

Selected Publications

• Balick, M. 1986. "Systematics and economic botany of the Oenocarpus - Jessenia (Palmae) complex." Advances in Economic Botany 3 140 pp.
• Balick, M.J. and H.T. Beck, compilers. 1989. Useful Palms of the World -- A Synoptic Bibliography. Columbia University Press, New York. 724 pp.
• Arvigo, R. and M.J. Balick. 1993. Rainforest Remedies: 100 Healing Herbs of Belize. Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, WI. 240 pp.
• Balick, M.J., E. Elisabetsky and S.A. Laird (Eds.). 1996. Medicinal Resources of the Tropical Forest: Biodiversity and its Importance to Human Health. Columbia University Press.
• Balick, M.J. and P.A. Cox. 1996. Plants, People and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany. W.H. Freeman, Scientific American Library Series, New York 228 pp.
• Khan, S. and M.J. Balick. 2001. Therapeutic Plants of Ayurveda: A Review of Selected Clinical and Other Studies for 166 Species. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 7(5): 405-515. Download as pdf file (3.79 MB). Please view file with Internet Explorer.