caption birth_place citizenship nationality name birth_date known_for image article_title birth_name occupation alma_mater
davis at home in 2008 west vancouver , british columbia , canada canada canadian wade davis 14 december 1953 '' the wayfinders '' , '' el rio '' the serpent and the rainbow '' , '' wade-davis . jpg wade davis
 wade davis anthropologist , ethnobotanist , author harvard university
wade davis

wade davis -lrb- born december 14 , 1953 -rrb- is a canadian anthropologist , ethnobotanist , author , and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures , especially in north and south america and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants .
davis came to prominence with his 1985 best-selling book `` the serpent and the rainbow '' about the zombies of haiti .
davis is professor of anthropology and the bc leadership chair in cultures and ecosystems at risk at the university of british columbia .
davis has published popular articles in `` outside '' , `` national geographic '' , `` fortune '' , and `` condé nast traveler '' .
davis is an explorer-in-residence at the national geographic society .
named by the ngs as one of the explorers for the millennium , he has been described as `` a rare combination of scientist , scholar , poet and passionate defender of all of life 's diversity . ''
in recent years his work has taken him to east africa , borneo , nepal , peru , polynesia , tibet , mali , benin , togo , new guinea , australia , colombia , vanuatu , mongolia , and the high arctic of nunuvut and greenland .
