Dr Jill Stansbury (1961- ) was born to Iowa farming families and enjoyed a childhood of exploring the natural world of forests, ravines, farms, gardens, streams and lakes around her midwestern home. She obtained a doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine in 1988 and has practiced medicine for 25 years now. Her passion and specialty has been botanical medicine, both medicinal plant chemistry and the practical arts of growing and using plant-based medicines. She has chaired the Department of Botanical Medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR for over 2 decades. She is also the mother of 2 grown, wonderful children and lives half the year in Peru, studying Amazonian plants and healing techniques with several indigenous tribes