Ryan Drum, PhD has a BSc in Chemical Technology and a PhD in Botany (Phycology) from Iowa State University. While a NATO Scholar, he did postdoctoral studies on Cell Biology using the Electron Microscope and Microcine at the Universities of Bonn, Germany and Leeds, England.
For 10 years he taught Botany and related subjects at Universities (UMASS/Amherst, UCLA, WWU).
He studied Herbal Medicine with Ella Birzneck, founder of Dominion Herbal College in British Columbia for 12 years, and taught at their summer seminars for 35 years. He has been an adjunct faculty at Bastyr University since 1984, and he lectures at major herbal conferences and herbal schools.
Dr. Drum is the author of over 30 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, the author of Electron Microscopy of Diatom Cells 1966, Springer Verlag, a 100-Plate Atlas, in print for 20 years, and a contributing author of two chapters in Planting the Future (Gladstar and Hirsch 2001) and a chapter in Fundamentals of Naturopathic Endocrinology, M. Friedman 2005.
The proud father of three wonderful children and two fantastic grandchildren, he lives in a rustic little hilltop cabin he built 30 years ago on a remote island, off the grid, without indoor plumbing or refrigeration.
Ryan believes in true patient autonomy: the freedom and right to choose one's caregivers independent of their official certification.
Ja Schindler is the founder and director of Fungi For The People, an education and research organization based in Eugene, Oregon. They teach a multitude of classes on many aspects of mushroom cultivation, and have recently opened an urban mushroom farm in West Eugene where they are growing medicinal and gourmet mushrooms for the region. Ja has been studying and working with mushrooms for the past 15 years and is involved in community cultivation and research projects around the country.
