Dr. Fabien Schultz heads the Ethnopharmacology & Zoopharmacognosy Research Group at Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany. He also lectures at the University of Lubeck, Germany. Dr. Schultz has obtained his PhD in Ethnopharmacology (Technical University of Berlin in Germany, including research stays at Emory University, USA and Makerere University, Uganda). He also received a diploma in the History of Medicine from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in London, and concurrently earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Bioproduct Technology. Dr. Schultz is on the scientific advisory board of multiple pharmaceutical companies, specialised in nature-inspired drug discovery, both in the US and in Europe, and on the board of international scientific organizations and journals.
Dr. Schultz’s research explores how humans and wild animals use natural substances to maintain health, thereby bridging traditional knowledge, animal behavior, and modern pharmacology. By integrating ethnopharmacology and zoopharmacognosy (animal self-medication), he investigates how medicinal knowledge emerges, evolves, and can inform future drug discovery. His work is characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach that combines field research, pharmacological laboratory analyses, and collaboration with local and indigenous communities. His group operates across multiple international field sites, including in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Malawi, Peru, and Germany. A central contribution of his work is the identification and validation of natural substances used by both humans and animals for health purposes. He has contributed to the first systematic documentation and pharmacological validation of self-medication behaviors in wild animals, including chimpanzees, elephants, and mountain gorillas, and has identified previously understudied bioactive natural materials and compounds with potential therapeutic applications. Dr. Schultz’s research identifies biodiversity and traditional knowledge as key “resources of the future.” At a time when two in five plant species face extinction and invaluable traditional knowledge systems are rapidly eroding, preserving chemical diversity is of paramount importance. To support this work, his group has established a unique and continuously expanding extract library comprising more than 750 crude extracts from over 210 largely understudied plant, insect, and fungal species. The societal relevance of his work lies in addressing urgent global challenges, including antimicrobial resistance, parasitic infections, inflammatory disorders, and biodiversity loss, while also contributing to the preservation of indigenous knowledge systems. A key component of his work is the close and equitable collaboration with local communities, ensuring that research outcomes are directly linked to benefit-sharing and knowledge-transfer strategies as well as local capacity building. In line with the One Health approach and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (3, 10 and 15), Dr. Schultz’s work thus contributes to the health of humans, animals, and the environment by strengthening local medical resources, improving understanding of zoonotic connections, and opening up new avenues for drug discovery. Results may reveal novel natural remedies, drug leads and food additives that are effective in humans, therefore addressing the worldwide need for new antimalarials, antivirals, antiinflammatories, antiparasitics, and antibiotics/food preservatives (specifically targeting antibiotic resistance). In this context, he collaborates with various indigenous communities, environmental justice NGOs, and co-founded a charity in Uganda to facilitate the transfer of research outcomes into local practice and to promote sustainable partnerships. Dr. Schultz has initiated several community projects in order to foster bidirectional communication in research and a good collaboration with indigenous communities.
Among his 29 career scientific awards, Dr. Schultz has received prestigious, rare accolades, including one Fulbright scholarship, two The Explorers Club Flag Expeditions, and the “EC50 – 50 people changing the world” award which honors extraordinary individuals worldwide who are advancing science, conservation, and exploration. Notably, he has been mentored and supported by the late UN Messenger of Peace Dr. Jane Goodall alongside other leading conservationists and pharmacologists in past years. Since Dr. Schultz established the Ethnopharmacology & Zoopharmacognosy Research Group, they have published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles. The group’s recent publication on medicinal food resources consumed by wild chimpanzees was recently listed by The Smithsonian Magazine as one of the most significant discoveries in human evolution in 2024. Fabien’s research has been featured by over 300 media outlets, including BBC, Science, the Washington Post, CBS News, the New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, El Pais and the Associated Press. You can find more information about his work on his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabienschultz and here:
https://www.bnitm.de/en/research/research-groups/implementation/ethnopharmacology-and-zoopharmacognosy