Linda and Charles Wilson Humanities in Medicine Lecture

In the 1930s and 40s, amateur explorers and hardened plant hunters combed the Amazon in a race to unlock the secrets of curare, an Indigenous poison they hoped could cure many diseases. Drawing on oral histories and archives, including collections at the University of Nebraska, O'Hara brings to life this epic quest, a stranger-than-fiction story that moves from Indigenous lands in the Amazon to rogue medical trials in Lincoln and Omaha to cutthroat strategizing in corporate boardrooms.

Matt O'Hara is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.