Daniel Moerman

Daniel Ellis Moerman (born 1941) is an American medical anthropologist and ethnobotanist, and an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.^[2] He is known for his work relating to Native American ethnobotany and the placebo effect.

Daniel Ellis Moerman
Born	(1941-07-21) July 21, 1941 (age 83) Paterson, New Jersey
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Known for	Work in ethnobotany and the placebo effect
Awards	University of Michigan Distinguished Faculty Governance Award (1991)[1]
Scientific career
Fields	Medical anthropology
Institutions	University of Michigan-Dearborn
Thesis	Extended family and popular medicine on St. Helena Island, S.C.: adaptations to marginality (1974)

Education and career

Moerman was born in Paterson, New Jersey.^[3] He received his AB, MA and PhD degrees in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1963, 1965, and 1974, respectively.^[1] He became a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1984, and was appointed the William E. Stirton Professor of Anthropology at the university in 1994.^[1]

Research

Moerman has spent over 25 years developing a catalogue of over 4,000 plants used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes.^[4][5] He has also published studies on the placebo effect, one of which found that more people with stomach ulcers were healed when taking four placebos per day than when taking two.^[6]

Awards and honors

In 1991, Moerman became the first faculty member at the University of Michigan's Dearborn campus to receive the university's Distinguished Faculty Governance Award.^[7]