James Adams

James Adams, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology at the USC School of Pharmacy.  Dr. Adams brings to Ojai a wealth of scientific knowledge and field experience as well as a singular perspective on herbal medicine.

At the 2023 Ojai Herbal Symposium he will discuss “Causes, Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Jim is the co-author — with Enrique Villaseñor and Michelle Wong — of the 4th edition of Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West: Cultural and Scientific Basis for Their Use.

As an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Southern California, Dr. Adams taught pharmacy students, medical students, doctors and other healthcare professionals for 33 years while researching the natural pharmaceutical compounds in native plants. He has over 300 publications, including many on Alzheimer’s Disease. He was featured in a beautifully illustrated cover story in the School of Pharmacy’s magazine, Results. Here is an article about him from the USC website entitled “The Healing Power of Plants.”

Running parallel with his academic career, Dr. Adams has worked with the Chumash people of the San Fernando Valley since 1998 and studied Chumash healing with Cecilia Garcia for almost 15 years. In addition to the 1st edition of their book, they wrote 30 journal articles together. Jim is now the carrier of the healing knowledge passed to him by his teacher. As he tells it, “My family came to Virginia in 1635 and has always survived by using American Indian healing. On the frontier, there were no doctors. American Indian healing was better than European medicine anyway. I continue this tradition.”

“Humans have used plant medicines ever since humans came into existence, about 200,000 years ago,” Dr. Adams explains in Healing with Medicinal Plants. “That means that our ancestors experienced an intense natural selection. Those who responded to plant medicines survived and passed their genes on. We are the products of this natural selection. Our bodies are designed to respond to plant medicines.”