Research Specialist

William L. Brown Center
Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299  USA

Office phone: (314) 577-5100 ext. 6121
Fax: (314) 577-0800
Email: Jessica.griffard@mobot.org

Education

B.A. English, Spanish, and Cultural Anthropology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2010

Research Interests

Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Ecology
Conservation
Cultural Anthropology
Ornithology
Medicinal Plants
Ecological Education

Current Projects

Collecting plants for natural product study at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri and at the Shaw Nature Reserve located in Gray Summit, Missouri
Market collections of medicinal plants in Peru (2014)
Data entry of medicinal plants and plants of economic importance to the Chacobo Indians of Bolivia
Elderberry collection throughout the Southeast and the Northeast USA

Field Experience

 Costa Rica (2008, 2011, 2012).  Worked as a resident naturalist in the tropical montane forest of San Luis in the region of Monteverde, Costa Rica.

The Galapagos, Ecuador (2013).  Worked with the University of Missouri-St. Louis on a long-standing research project that monitors avian malaria in the Galapagos and the relationship between Galapagos birds and mosquitoes.

Peru, (2014).  Worked alongside the Garden’s Peruvian counterparts to collect medicinal plants from the local markets of Trujillo and Chiclayo, Peru.