Monica Wilde

Monica's Masters dissertation was on the concomitant prescribing of the proton-pump inhibitor drug, omeprazole, with herbs and micronutrients. She has a particular interest in beneficial concomitant prescribing and in Integrative Medicine, committed to research for patients who need to take chemical (allopathic) drugs but wish to also take herbal medicine as part of a holistic healthcare plan. Experience has taught her that a holistic approach can reduce chemical drug side effects in an extremely beneficial way for the patient while still ensuring the treatment that they need.

Previous specialist fields include the study of chelated iodine in seaweed and its effect on iodine insufficiency and thyroid function. She has designed, and currently seeking funding for, a clinical trial to monitor the consumption of seaweed in the form of Napiers Organic Hebridean Kelp capsules by people also taking levothyroxine for underactive thyroid to improve their baseline health. She is a member of the Academy of Integrative Health Medicine, following the development of the field of integrative medicine with great interest. She has also researched the cosmetic uses of native species for use in cosmetics.

Monica is also a guest lecturer on the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh Diploma in Herbology course teaching the medicinal uses of seaweeds, fungi, tree saps and resins.

Monica has a deep passion for plants, fungi and the natural world. Meeting a Kikuyu herbalist on the Kenyan farm of her childhood, inspired a lifetime of interest and studying of herbal medicine. She is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a founding Member of the Association of Foragers and a foraging teacher of wild food and wild plant medicine. More about these aspects of her life can be found on her blog www.monicawilde.com