NC Native Ethnobotany Project
NC Native Ethnobotany Project
Building Healthier Communities Through Healthier Living
Meet the Team
TRACIE LOCKLEAR, PHD
Project Director
Tracie Locklear is a pharmacognosist and natural products chemist. Her research evaluates the role of plant nutrients in human health and wellness. She is an environmental activist and works closely with communities interested in the reestablishment of healthy food traditions that support food security and sovereignty.
RANDI BYRD
Community Advisory Board Member
Randi R. Byrd is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She serves as Project Coordinator for the Healthy Native North Carolinians Network. Her hobbies include growing competition-sized giant pumpkins, fishing, hiking, learning about all things plant-related, and writing.
LINWOOD WATSON, MD
Community Advisory Board Member
Dr. Watson is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, a board certified family medicine physician and an amateur orchardist of native species.
JILLIAN DE GEZELLE, PHD
Co-Director
Jillian De Gezelle is an ethnobotanist at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on medicinal plants, traditional medical systems, plants of spiritual significance, and biocultural diversity conservation.
GREG JACOBS
Community Advisory Board Member
Mr. Greg Jacobs is a citizen of the Coharie Tribe and serves as the Tribal Administrator for the Coharie Intra-Tribal Council, headquartered at the historic East Carolina Indian School and present-day Coharie Tribal Center in Clinton, NC. Mr. Jacobs is a graduate of the inaugural NC Native Leadership Institute, 2013-2014. Mr. Jacobs serves on the board for United Tribes of North Carolina. In 2014, he was recognized and awarded the title of “Elder of the Year” by the North Carolina Native American Youth Organization.
DARLENE GRAHAM
Community Advisory Board Member
Darlene Graham is an educator and active member of the Waccamaw Siouan tribe.
NANCY J. TURNER, PHD
Advisor/Mentor
Nancy Turner is an ethnobotanist with experience working with First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America. She has spent the last 40 years collaborating with Indigenous communities to help document, retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including Indigenous foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environments.
ARCHIE LYNCH
Community Advisory Board Member
Archie Lynch is the Tribal Administrator for the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe.