Ever popped an aspirin? Thank a willow tree for that. But in today’s world of synthetic pharmaceuticals, scientists and laypeople alike have lost this connection to the natural world. By ignoring the potential of medicinal plants, we are losing out on the opportunity to discover new life-saving medicines needed in the fight against the greatest medical challenge of this century: the rise of the post-antibiotic era. Antibiotic-resistant microbes plague us all. If we don’t act now, by 2050, ten million people are expected to die each year from these untreatable superbugs. No one understands this better than Dr. Cassandra Quave, whose groundbreaking research as a medical ethnobotanist—someone who identifies and studies plants to treat threatening illnesses—is helping to provide clues for the next generation of advanced medicines. Her quest is personal as well as scientific: as a person born with multiple congenital defects of her skeletal system who nearly lost her life at the age of three due to a staph infection, she has an intimate knowledge of the strengths and failings of modern medicine.