In the podcast “Axé das Plantas” (The Axé of Plants), Victor Silva, a postdoctoral researcher in neuropharmacology, and Vagner Rocha, PhD in Ethnic and African Studies, engage in dialogue with priests and priestesses of African and Indigenous religious traditions, as well as pharmacology researchers, about the phytotherapeutic properties of plants used to heal the body, mind, and spirit.

Across five episodes, the program incorporates narrative, conversational, and documentary elements to explore topics such as scientific discoveries on the medicinal properties of plants, ancestral knowledge, traditional medicine, oral tradition and ancestry, the environment, and religious racism.

In its third season, the podcast will focus on the plants of the Caatinga, a biome unique to Brazil. In addition to the voices of the hosts, Dr. Victor Diógenes Silva and Dr. Vagner Rocha, the podcast features interviewees who are custodians of both traditional knowledge and modern scientific understanding of medicinal plants.

The podcast team includes: Marise Urbano (director), Marconi Bispo (writer), Danielle Freire (editor), Jean Cardoso (production and press relations), Davi Barreto (visual design), Romeran Ribeiro (social media management), Márcia Silva, and the team of researchers from UFBA (consultants in ethnopharmacology).