osadha natural health, llc
where tradition & science meet
About the Herbalist
Marija grew up running wild in the woods. (Well, at least ’til sunset.) She’s a research scientist-turned-clinical herbalist, practicing since 2009. Marija studied botanical medicine in the Bay Area with Pam Fisher, Kathi Keville, and others. She is a doctoral-level microbiologist who worked in cancer- and infectious disease research. Despite the high tech past, Marija’s focus as an herbalist is a simple approach to health that integrates herbal traditions with botanical research science. You may think that herbalism is off the beaten path if you live in the US, where it was suppressed in the late 19th and early 20th century by the powers that be. But some 88% of the countries around the globe use traditional medicine, including medicinal herbs and mushrooms, according to the World Health Organization.
Marija’s training and experience are listed below. When not up to things related to plants and mushrooms, Marija can be found road biking, mountain biking, nordic skiing awkwardly, snoeshoing, hiking despite the crotchety hip that has not yet been replaced, teaching kickboxing, or else getting humbled repeatedly in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Training and Experience - Herbalism
Berkeley Herbal Center – Pam Fisher, Director. Berkeley, CA.
- Student Clinic – supervised clinical practice
- 10-month Herbal Therapeutics Program
- 10-month Foundations of Herbalism Apprenticeship Program
Green Medicine Herb School – Kathi Keville. Grass Valley, CA
- Herbal Apprenticeship
- Herbal Medicine and Body Systems
- Aromatherapy (Level 1 and advanced training)
Songbird Herbal Co-op & The Green Bough. Dawn Zaft. Sonoma County, CA
- One-on-one training in clinical Western herbalism and Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Supervised clinical practice
California School of Herbal Studies, Forestville, CA
- A variety of short courses on Western herbalism, medicine making, and medicinal mushrooms
Other Courses:
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- International Certification Course in Aromatherapy. Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy. Kurt Schnaubelt, Director. San Rafael, CA.
- The Art and Science of Herbology. Rosemary Gladstar, E. Barre, VT.
Training & Experience - Science
- Postdoctoral Fellowship. UC Berkeley, School of Public Health – Dengue virus replication. 2002-2005
- Infectious Disease Fellow. UC San Francisco, Division of Infectious Diseases. 2003-2005
- Doctoral studies. University of Washington, Dept. Microbiology & Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center – Molecular mechanisms of Human Papillomavirus-induced oncogenesis. 1996-2002
- Infectious Diseases Trainee. University of Washington Center for AIDS and STD. 1997-2000
- Research Technician. Fox Chase Cancer Center, Dept. of Pharmacology – Mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. 1993-1996
- Research Technician. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Dept. of Ornithology – Data generator for avian phylogenetic studies. 1991-1993
- BS in Biology w/ Chemistry Minor. Neumann University. 1989-1993
Writing
Marija been a freelance writer for over a dozen years (after publishing multiple peer-reviewed research papers and writing more grants than she cares to remember in her years as a cancer and infectious disease researcher). She was a columnist for her good friends at Plant Healer Quarterly for 5 years and a weekly contributor to Basmati for 2.5 years. She contributes to the monthly zine Herbaria, to Edible New Mexico Magazine, the independent weekly Durango Telegraph as well as writing and vlogging for her Herb Notes Blog. She is working on a book on the edible and medicinal mushrooms of the Rockies (and beyond) that weaves together traditional uses with an in depth but easy to understand summary of the research science on each mushroom.
Teaching
Despite being a hard-core introvert, Marija loves to teach, whether it’s one on one or in front of 200 students in a lecture hall. She’s been giving talks for 20 years, and offers classes and workshops on all manner of topics involving wild plants and mushrooms, botanical medicine, and science. Her favorite place to teach is outdoors, and she’s available to lead edible/medicinal plant and mushroom walks. She has in person and online offerings for individuals and groups through Osadha, and is an instructor at Albuquerque Herbalism. The following are some of the other organizations for which she’s taught:
The Forager’s Path School of Botanical Studies, AZ
Fort Lewis College, CO
The Good Medicine Confluence Annual Conference, CO
The Discovery Museum, CO
The Native Plant Society of New Mexico, NM
The Native Plant Festival, AZ
WholeExpo, CO
Cancer Support Community Southwest Colorado
Durango Garden Club, CO
Cortez Garden Club, CO
Pura Vida Healthcare, CO
Natural Grocers, CO
Interviews & Press
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Interviewed by author, artist, historian, ecological activist, and overall rabble-rouser Jesse Wolf Hardin. Originally published in Plant Healer Quarterly.
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Interviewed for the wellness site, Basmati.com.
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Article stemming from a class I offered on medicinal mushrooms.
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Article that stemmed from a respiratory herb class I offered.
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Herald photographer showed up at the Kitchen Witchery Class to see what was up!
