Mehdi and Farhang Khosh: Naturopathic doctors
Behind the reception area at Natural Medical Care here in Lawrence, Kansas, the Khosh brothers navigate their way through thousands of bottles of natural remedies. They are surrounded by solid extracts, tinctures, capsules, teas, powders, suppositories and homeopathic treatments, all carefully sourced.
Mehdi (left) and Farhang Khosh at their offices.
Mehdi and Farhang Khosh work to contribute to the overall understanding of medicine, a goal they share with us at the Native Medicinal Plant Research Program. For immune support, they would prescribe a mixture of Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia (plants we have collected for testing). For memory and brain support, Mehdi pulls a bottle of Ginko biloba extract from the shelf, and for gastrointestinal problems, licorice root is prescribed.
Their knowledge of natural medicine is based on both personal experience from a young age and doctoral training at Bastyr University in Seattle. The brothers also come from a long line of healers, traced back to their ancestor, Avicenna (980-1037 CE), considered to be the “father of all botanical herbal medicine” in the Persian herbal tradition.
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School of Pharmacy medicinal garden
This coming spring, we look forward to the first full season of growth for our newly established educational medicinal garden at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. This garden, designed by faculty and staff of the Native Medicinal Plant Research Program, was planted in May 2011 by KU faculty, students, staff and volunteers. More than 100 people, including pharmacy students, attended the public event.
Barbara Timmermann (in yellow jacket at left), who heads the medicinal chemistry arm of our program, as well as KU pharmacy students (in blue T-shirts) were on hand for the planting event.
This is not the first medicinal garden at the University of Kansas. In the 1920s, pharmacy students planted the “KU Drug Garden” near old Robinson Gymnasium on the Lawrence main campus. The garden honored their mentor, Lucius E. Sayre, the first dean of pharmacy at the University of Kansas.
The new pharmacy garden, made up of five themed beds, provides information on some 70 species of medicinal plants, many native to Kansas and the Great Plains. An extensive signage system provides information about the historical uses of each individual plant, about each bed and about the garden overall. (See plant list.)
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