Rosa Giove

Rosa Giove (1952–2022) was a Peruvian medical doctor and epidemiologist who also practiced Amazonian traditional medicine. She lived in Tarapoto, Peru, where she worked with the non-profit Centro Takiwasi, and operated a medical centre called Sagrada Familia. At Takiwasi, she worked with her husband (Dr. Jacques Mabit) and other staff to help addiction sufferers through a combination of Western medicine and Amazonian traditional medicine. Giove died in March 2022.

The traditional medicine ayahuasca was an essential part of Dr. Giove’s life and work. Although a medical doctor by training, Giove wrote one of the most widely loved icaros (medicine songs) of modern times: “Ábrete corazón”. She later explained that she was inspired to write the icaro after having a dream about a robust tree opening and expanding.

The first ayahuasca icaro that Dr Giove wrote, “Madre Ayahuasca”, was a song that, for a time, ran through her head from morning till night. This annoyance continued until she settled into the conviction that she needed to sing it to begin each ayahuasca ceremony.

Dr. Giove appears briefly in the 2004 documentary film L'Ayahuasca, le serpent et moi (“Ayahuasca, the Snake and I”).