
Sam Coffman
Lead Instructor
About the Instructor
Sam has worked with herbs since 1987 and formally as a clinical herbalist for over 15 years. He served in the military for 10 years of which 6 were as a US Special Forces Medic (aka Green Beret Medic). He is a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild, a Wilderness EMT (WEMT), and a Wilderness First Responder instructor.
Sam is the founder of The Human Path/Herbal Medics Academy and co-founder of Herbal Medics which is the school's outreach organization that works with underserved communities.
His primary goal has become the creation of an integrative medical model that embraces both vitalistic and mechanistic aspects of herbalism into a collaboration with orthodox and energetic models of diagnosis and treatment, to include orthodox western medicine. To this end, he has created and co-created nearly 2000 hours of pathophysiology-based herbal medicine curriculum, and led hundreds of herbal clinics in remote, austere, post-disaster and underserved areas. Also as part of integrating orthodox medicine with plant medicine, Sam regularly works as an herbalist with, teaches with and instructs doctors, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, nurses, and other licensed health care practitioners.
Infection and Inflammation (Pathophysiology Module)
The primary goal of this module (as with all the pathophysiology modules) is to understand the body's response systems through the eyes of the herbalist.
This 4-week, online course includes 2 live (which is recorded and then accessible through download as well) classes per week will explore in depth the separate topics of infection and inflammation, as well as the pathophysiological relationships between these two worlds.
Injury, illness and healing in the body can be more fully understood by investigating the mechanisms through which our immune systems respond. For instance, while it may be considered a more “symptomatic” approach at times to address inflammation directly, it is also through understanding the mechanisms of inflammation on both a systemic and local level, that the causes of disease can often be more fully assessed. Managing inflammation and/or infection often allows the body to recover enough to begin a healing process that is otherwise impossible.
Topics that will be explored in this course include:
· Understanding inflammatory pathways as an herbalist
· The immune system – vital physiology
· Systemic vs. local inflammation
· Chronic vs. acute inflammation
· The role of the immune system during inflammation
· Wound healing and infection management – advanced topics
· Materia medica and target-specific medicine making
· Breaking through the cycles of infection and inflammation
· Organ systems, inflammation and plant medicine
Course Contents
Course Curriculum
- Resource - Week 1 - Syllabus
- Week 1, Lecture #1: Introduction & Overview of the course
- Week 1, Lecture #2: Terminology - Vasoconstriction & Dilation, Hyperemia & Edema
- Week 1, Lecture #3: Terminology - Exudate, Selectrins, Margination
- Week 1, Lecture #4: Terminology - Chemotaxis, Opsonins, MAST Cells, Complement system
- Week 1, Lecture #5: Cylcooxygenase Pathways
- Week 1, Lecture #6: Corticosteroids
- Week 1, Lecture #7 - Acute & Chronic Inflammation
- Week 1, Lecture #8: Review of Concepts, Pyrexia, Cachexia
- Week 1, Lecture #9: Types of Hypersensitivity
- Week 1, Lecture #10: TH1 & TH2 Immunity
- Week 1, Lecture #11: Nitric Oxide & Reactive Oxygen Species
- Week 1, Lecture #12: Types of Inflammation
- Week 1, Lecture #13: Materia Medica Part 1
- Week 1, Lecture #14: Materia Medica Part 2
- Week 1, Lecture #15: Materia Medica Part 3
- Week 1, All Lecture Slides
- Resource- Week 1 Study Guide #1
- Resource- Week 1 Study Guide #2
- Week 2, Lecture #1: Materia Medica - Pathway Effects of Specific Herbs
- Week 2, Lecture #2 - Stages of Wound Healing
- Week 2, Lecture #3 - Proliferative Stage of Wound Healing, Colors of a Wound
- Week 2, Lecture #4 - Proliferative Stage (Part 2)
- Week 2, Lecture #5 - MMP's, Acute & Chronic Wound Healing
- Week 2, Lecture #6 - MMP Inhibitors
- Week 2, Lecture #7 - Immune Response Fundamentals
- Week 2, Lecture #8 - Biofilm Review
- Week 2, Lecture #9 - Key Inflammation Concepts for Applying Materia Medica
- Week 2, Lecture #10 - More Specific Biofilm Materia Medica
- Week 2, Lecture #11 - Biofilm Details Part 1
- Week 2, Lecture #12 - PPAR's, Pili, EPS & Viruses
- Week 2, Lecture #13 - L-Form Bacteria
- Week 2, Lecture #14 - Biofilms & Inflammation
- Week 2, Lecture #15 - Materia Medica Part 1
- Week 2, Lecture #16 - Materia Medica Part 2
- Week 2 All Slides
- Week 2 Study Guide #1
- Week 3, Lecture #1 - Wound Granulation
- Week 3, Lecture #2 - Overgranulation
- Week 3, Lecture #3 - Slough, Maceration, Epithelialization
- Week 3, Lecture #4 - Case Study (Outer Ear Infection/Inflammation)
- Week 3, Lecture #5 - Case Study, Venous Ulcers
- Week 3, Lecture # 6 - Key Formula Concepts
- Week 3, Lecture #7 - The Microbiome
- Week 3, Lecture #8 - Applied Terminology from Weeks 1 & 2
- Week 3, Lecture #9 - Gut Homeostasis & Inflammation
- Week 3, Lecture #10 - Gut Inflammation Layers
- Week 3, Lecture #11 - Intake & Inflammation: Solving the Puzzle
- Week 3, Lecture #12 - Physical Exam Part 1
- Week 3, Lecture #13 - Physical Exam Part 2
- Week 3, Lecture #14 - Physical Exam Part 3
- Week 3, Lecture #15 - Asthma & Inflammation
- Week 3, Lecture #16 - Materia Medica & Formulation Key Concepts
- Week 3 All Slides
- Week 3 Study Guide 1
- Week 3 Study Guide 2
- Week 4, Lecture #1 - Atopic Dermatitis
- Week 4, Lecture #2 - Anaphylaxis
- Week 4, Lecture #3 - Urticaria
- Week 4, Lecture #4 - Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Week 4, Lecture #5 - Psoriatic Arthritis
- Week4, Lecture #6 - Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Week 4, Lecture #7 - Sjogren's Syndrome
- Week 4, Lecture #8 - Lupus Erythematosus
- Week 4, Lecture #9 - Vasculitis
- Week 4, All Slides
- Week 4 Study Guide