Paul Alan Cox is an American
ethnobotanist
Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human societi ...
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 o ...
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. studies at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
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 an ...
, 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, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
. 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
and as a
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
Research Fellow in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Early in his academic career he was named a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator by
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, 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) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
he became the first
King Carl XVI Gustaf
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. Having reigned since 1973, he is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history.
Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, K ...
Professor of Environmental Science at the
Swedish Agricultural University and the
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
, a visiting professorship established by the
Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () 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 promoting natural sciences and mathem ...
.
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 ...
(NTBG) in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. 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 Range, Gros Ventre and Teton Range, Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, Wyoming, T ...
.
He is the author of over 250 scientific papers, reviews, and books and was chosen by ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' 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
Evolutionary ecology lies at the intersection of ecology and evolutionary biology. It approaches the study of ecology in a way that explicitly considers the evolutionary histories of species and the interactions between them. Conversely, it can ...
as a student of
John L. Harper at the
University of Wales
The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
in Bangor by studying
dioecy
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...
in plants. At
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
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, ecologist, and entomologist known for developing the field of sociobiology.
Born in Alabama, Wilson found an early interest in nature and frequ ...
, he studied how vertebrate pollination influenced breeding system evolution in tropical lianas. Collaborating at Harvard with tropical botanist
P. B. Tomlinson
Philip Barry Tomlinson (born 1932) is a British botanist specializing in tropical botany. He graduated in Biology BSc and Botany PhD from University of Leeds. He is the Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology, Emeritus at Harvard Forest, Harvard Un ...
, at Berkeley with
Herbert G. Baker, 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 Laborator ...
used search theory to develop a new approach to the evolution of different size sperm and eggs, known as
anisogamy
Different forms of anisogamy: A) anisogamy of motile cells, B) 283x283px
Anisogamy is a form of sexual reproduction">egg cell">oogamy (egg cell and sperm cell), C) anisogamy of non-motile cells (egg cell and spermatia).">283x283px
Anisogamy is ...
, a topic he continued to pursue with Japanese biologist Tatsuya Togashi. He discovered with colleagues Sandra Banack and James Metcalf in
cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...
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 existence ...
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 (BMAA).
Ethnobotany
Although trained in
evolutionary ecology
Evolutionary ecology lies at the intersection of ecology and evolutionary biology. It approaches the study of ecology in a way that explicitly considers the evolutionary histories of species and the interactions between them. Conversely, it can ...
, 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 Austr ...
, Cox was encouraged by Harvard Professor
Richard Evans Schultes
Richard Evans Schultes (''SHULL-tees'';Jonathan Kandell ''The New York Times'', April 13, 2001, Accessed April 26, 2020. January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) was an American biologist, considered to be the father of modern ethnobotany. He is kno ...
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 a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...
. 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 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 recordi ...
, which made him a lifetime Honorary Member. He is a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry
The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (), formerly the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture (), founded in 1813 at the initiative of Crown Prince Charles, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdo ...
, 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 (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...
, and appointed adjunct professor at the
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden by the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
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, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
. Currently, he is searching for a cure for
ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...
,
Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
, 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.
History
Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...
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, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also 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 Falealup ...
on
Savai'i island in
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
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 ''aliʻi'' (Paramount Chief/Queen) and ''toa'' (warrior) of Samoa from the Sā Tonumaipeʻa clan, who took the four ''pāpā'' (district) titles, the leading ''aliʻi'' titles of Samoa. After her death she became a goddes ...
''
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>
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 Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
, 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
Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005.
Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attend ...
.
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 1986 to 2005. The missile could carry up to eleven Mar ...
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 acronym 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 inte ...
) 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 Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
, 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 i ...
. He served a mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
in Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
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
American 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