Education:
Ph.D- Medicinal Chemistry in Natural Products Chemistry, Northeastern University, Boston, Ma 1983
M.S.- Medicinal Chemistry, Northeastern University, Boston, Ma 1980
B.S.- Chemistry and Biology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 1972
Research interests: natural products chemistry; isolation and identification of anticarcinogens from food and plants, spectroscopy (NMR and MS), medicinal plants, wild edible plants, and poisonous plants, vitamin contents of new and unusual wild plants, ethnobotany of North and South America including Indian and pioneer uses of plants and the prehistoric plains Amerindians teepee rings. Organically raised vegetables and organically raised lamb .
Experience: Dr. Z has taught courses in edible and medicinal wild plants for over 23 years. He has taught edible/medicinal plant courses at three different universities and at about 6 or 7 nature centers and institutes. Tom has been on local and national television 3 times talking about edible wild plants.(see alsoWild Food Biography enclosed for dates and places). His recent classes have been at the Frederik Meijers Botanical Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Check out their schedule for course listings. Here is a list of some of his favorite books and articles on edible and medicinal plants. Click to see a photo of one of his classes with Dr Z included. He taught a winter foraging class about Indian and Pioneer Uses of Plants for the West Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club one winter. He has taught plant taxonomy at the University of Wyoming at Laramie, Wyoming. Dr. Zennie has been on various poison control boards for 10 years including associate editor of Poisonindex (currently). Tom has written numerous articles on edible and medicinal wild plants in the popular press as well as in the scientific literature (15 scientific papers). The first scientific paper he ever published was on the vitamin contents of edible wild plants when he was an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati (See Vitamin paper in the journal Economic Botany). At an earlier point in his life he studied with a Cherokee Indian herb doctor named White Owl ( aka Pete Whitman) for about 5 years. He ran the Indian Arrow Root and Herb Shop in Cincinnati, Ohio. White Owl gave a few lectures at Ohio State University every year in the Pharmacy Department. White Owl died when he was 87 and was married to his third wife. One of the last memorable times they had together was when they found the largest amount of wild ginseng that either of them had ever seen. They were doing some exploring at the site of a soon to be flooded valley that was acquired by the state of Ohio for the new East Fork Lake on the Little Miami River, when they suddenly stoppped looked at each other, smiled and found themselves in the middle of a large wild ginseng patch about twenty ft square! Because the valley and all the plants and vegetation were going to be destroyed by the backed-up water from the new dam, they got down on their knees pulled out their pocket knives and then proceeded to collect all of the roots. An occurance that held no guilt! During this same time frame, Tom also spent time in the Appalachian Mountains talking and hiking the mountains with old herb hunters and exploring. He has collected many medicinal plants and herbs.
Tom got his Ph.D in medicinal chemisty in 1983 (area of natural products) with his thesis and research on the chemistry of a Mexican medicinal plant which grows at the edge of the rain forest. After getting his Ph.D, he did post-doctoral research for 3 1/2 years at Purdue University on the isolation and identification of anti-tumor and anti-cancer compounds from plants and also research on the isolation and identification of anti-carcinogens (compounds that prevent cancer) from foods, vegetables and herbs (see scientific publications). At present he lives on a small farm near Cloverdale, Indiana where he and his wife and kids raise sheep and sell organically raised lamb and garlic on the
To pay part of the bills, Dr Z works for the drug industry as an analytical chemist doing spectroscopy. See photo of Dr Z at work! As a throw back to past days and nefarious past here's a little shot of his blues harp in mp3 format. He also likes to salmon fish. Here's also a photo of a grayling from Haley Creek off the famous Copper River in Alaska and a photo of a male pink salmon (humpie) caught on Resurrection Creek on the Kenali Peninula. Here's Dr Z in Alaska and a photo of the famous Copper River in Alaska. In addition he likes to hunt deer! Mountain climbing in Wyoming is also one of his favorite things to do in the summer. The beautiful Snowy Range in the Medicine Bow National Forest is one of his favorite places. Here's a photo of him and his family up on Medicine Bow Peak (~12,000 ft) and really nice photo of some wild brook trout caught at 11,000 ft in North Gap Lake.
