STATE OF PHARMA

Ms. Bighash has a Bachelor of Pharmacy, and a Bachelor degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Toronto, Canada. She also obtained her Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Schulich School of Business. She is a recipient of 2019 UC-University of Toronto alumni of influence award and has been nominated for the Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award. In her current role as the President of AAPS, a post-graduate private college focusing on pharmaceutical and food higher education, she oversees the strategic, educational and training direction of AAPS. She has over 27 years of experience working for a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Genpharm Inc., Bayer Corp. and Eli Lilly & Company. Laleh has also worked with a number of Food and Cannabis organizations in various capacities such as Research and Development, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Regulatory and Compliance, Strategic Planning, and Business development.

Ms. Bighash has lectured extensively and has been an invited speaker at many global and Canadian academic and industry events focusing on pharma, food and cannabis-related topics such as regulatory, compliance and efficient operations. She has worked closely with the industry players and stakeholders in formulating efficient operating systems, ensuring regulatory compliance and certification.

Amanda McFarland is a quality risk management and microbiology senior consultant with ValSource, Inc. She specializes in the creation and implementation of risk management programs and developing risk-based strategies for use in clinical and commercial settings. Amanda is an active member of the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA), co-chair of the PDA ANSI standard on QRM in aseptic processing, a member of the PDA Regulatory Affairs and Quality Advisory Board, an instructor at PDA -TRI on quality risk management and a member of the Kilmer Regulatory Innovation team. She has a B.S. in entomology and an M.S. in mycology, both from the University of Florida. She can be contacted at amcfarland@valsource.com.

Heather Longden is an independent regulatory compliance consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Heather specialises in data integrity, regulatory compliance, data management, GLP and GMP and computer system validation. She acts as an advisor to various regulatory groups, specifically as a leader at GAMP® Americas steering committee and serves on the the ISPE Boston Area Chapter Board and Education Program Committee (EPC).

Kenneth Christie has over 30 years of sterile manufacturing and regulatory GMP consulting experience in the areas of Quality Assurance and Validation Management in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Mr. Christie is currently the Chief Operating Officer for VTS Consultants, Inc. located in Amherst, MA. Specifically, his responsibilities include quality system auditing, supplier qualification, GMP training, and serving as a subject matter expert for aseptic manufacturing processes, equipment and utilities, medical devices, and solid dosage processes on a global basis. Accomplishments include working on consent decree remediation issues for aseptically produced products, assisting clients in Japan, Dubai, Spain, China, and India by addressing audit observations and corrective actions dealing with sterilization. Performs PAI’s (pre-approval inspections) against current standards as found in the FDA’s ‘Pre-Approval Inspection Compliance Program #7346.832.

Mr. Christie is a speaker and trainer for several professional organizations and is a published author of several articles dealing with the challenges of aseptic processing. Additionally, Mr. Christie served as a member of the ISPE’s Professional Certification (PCC) Commission as an Examination Development Committee (EDC) member.

Working as a Category Buyer for Canna Cabana, Elliot Galbraith brings over two years of cannabis retail experience from managing one of the original twenty-five Ontario stores: Canna Cabana – Yonge Street. Elliot fell in love with cannabis while completing his undergrad at the Liberal Arts College of Concordia University in Montreal, where he could be found cultivating and consuming anywhere he could get away with it. When legalization was realized, he jumped at the idea of a career in cannabis and enrolled at AAPS, earning a Diploma in Cannabis: Management, Quality, & Edibles. Elliot was hired at Canna Cabana as the franchised stores Assistant Manager. A year later, he was promoted to Store Manager and the store was acquired by High Tide Inc. Elliot Galbraith’s passion for great cannabis experiences continues, as he looks forward to bringing Cabana Cannabis Co. white label products to market when he isn’t busy “testing” products or cultivating his own crop.

Chris began his QA career working for Magna International in corporate quality systems. After Magna, he earned an MBA at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, while simultaneously launching his consultingpractice, CJB Consulting Ltd. CJB began consulting in the design and deployment of ISO & GMP QMS systems in awide variety of businesses. The Isolocity software was launched in 2016 with the intent to eliminate all paper and labour with quality compliance. Today Isolocity is used by businesses on every continent. Chris is an IRCA Certified Quality Systems Auditor and is also a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Natalie Villeneuve is a clinical therapist specializing in trauma and sexual abuse prevention through her work with adolescents who have sexually offended. Currently based out of Toronto, Canada, Natalie assesses and treats youth who have experienced physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as youth who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviours. Natalie completed her Masters of Social Work (MSW) at McGill University, where her research focused on understanding treatment needs for Indigenous youth who have sexually offended. Natalie has delivered numerous presentations on working with youth who sexually offend, and she is interested in understanding how Indigenous wisdom can be blended with Western science to enhance current healing practices and offer more wholistic approaches to treating trauma. She is interested in the role that psychedelics can bring to trauma therapy, and her current work focuses on how the psychedelic movement can progress in a way that is safe, ethical, decolonized, and free from sexual abuse.

Chris is a Master of cannabinoid research helping build the next generation of cannabis businesses. Author of “The Cannamanual”, Chris and his organization help cannabis entrepreneurs leverage the rare expertise of cannabis scientists on the frontiers of research to make the industry safer, smarter, and more scientific.

After working for over a decade in academic healthcare and being inspired by the first-hand benefits of medical cannabis, Tamara took a leap out of the corporate world in 2018 to start her own company, CannaLily Consulting. Since then, she has successfully completed a level 2 Cannabis Sommelier certification (CannaReps), an Interpener certification (Trichome Institute) and a Cannabis Educator certification (Michener Institute). In 2019, she was selected from 25000 applicants to serve as one of five members of the world’s only Cannabis Curation Committee. Her newest endeavour finds her taking on the role of Head of Education at CannSell. Tamara is passionate about educating the masses, dispelling cannabis myths and creating accessible communities. IG & FB: @cannalily.consulting LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-lilien/ Website: https://www.cannalily.ca/

Coming Soon

Matthew Jerome is the Founder and Chief Consultant at Meristem Cannabis Consulting and is Canada’s first fully certified Ganjier. Matt has over 15 years experience in the cannabis field and began his journey in early 2007 as a medicinal patient and designated grower as well as advocate. In 2011 he branched out and began his career as an educator and medicinal/craft consultant in the legacy market until pre-legalization, during which he worked as a policy advisor and patient care coordinator within the industry.

During this time however, Matt noticed some serious gaps in the narrative and found himself thoroughly disappointed at the lack of attention being dedicated to the medical cannabis community on the road to legalization and decided to do something about it. In 2019 Matt founded Meristem Cannabis Consulting with a dedicated goal in mind to represent the medicinal community the way they deserved to be, and to make sure that those who were unable to fights for themselves were never left out of the conversation.

Matt has also been a vocal cannabis advocate for over a decade and has been featured as a key-note speaker at several cannabis events and competitions. Matt is also a professional cannabis judge and has judged a number of competitions worldwide. He offers one-of-a-kind systematic cannabis assessments to growers and breeders of all types, with a goal to educate and advise companies and individuals within the industry on the importance of quality within the supply chain, as well as provide confidence when it comes to quality related decisions.

Coming Soon

Nicholas Nedin is currently the Product Development and Quality Assurance Manager at Greenway Greenhouse Cannabis Crop. Nicholas has been working in the Canadian Cannabis Industry since 2016, starting as a Research and Development consultant, he leveraged years in an array of positions in hospitality, manufacturing and beverage alcohol to provide insights for cannabis companies on how to bring unique cannabis products and brands to market, while fitting their operations into government based grant structures and tax incentive programs. In his free time, Nicholas produced more than 150 podcast episodes for The Cannabis Act Podcast, The Flower Hour Podcast, and The Cannalysts. He is also a regular contributor to Inside The Jar, writing about Cannabis, food and popular culture. He was also an executive member of The Podcast Mashup along with The Cannalysts, CFAMM, Lift & Co, and Ernst & Young, helping raise over $30,000 for Cannabis related charities in 2019.

Tabitha Fritz is the co-founder and CEO of Fritz’s Cannabis Company, an edibles company that was established in 2016, and successfully transitioned from the legacy market to the regulated Canadian space in 2021. Fritz’s products are currently listed throughout Canada, and the company recently launched the first solvent-free edible in the regulated Canadian market. At the same time she was co-founding Fritz’s, Tabitha was co-founding Bast, a cannabis brand that formulates cannabis products for women, including a condom-compatible personal lubricant, suppositories, and infused topicals.

Prior to working in the cannabis industry, Tabitha was a teacher, curriculum developer, and educational administrator, roles that helped her develop her skills as a cannabis educator and create comprehensive budtender training curriculums, including the Level UP Budtender Education Program, the first online and in-person training program made specifically for Canadian budtenders. Through her varied experiences in connecting face-to-face with consumers during Fritz’s legacy market days and her work with budtenders and retailers, Tabitha has developed a deep understanding of cannabis products, the Canadian consumer, and the spaces where they intersect. This understanding informs her work creating and presenting workshops on a variety of cannabis education topics, including her most recent online course “The 5 Dimensions of a Cannabis Experience”.

Tabitha is a board member of The Hash Corporation, a publicly traded company that produces traditional cannabis hashish, as well as the Canadian Business History Association, an organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Canadian Business History. She holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, where she studied behavioural economics and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Brian Pilecki is a clinical psychologist at Portland Psychotherapy that specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders, trauma and PTSD, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Brian practices from an orientation based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and has extensive experience in the areas of mindfulness and meditation that he incorporates into therapy with clients. At Portland Psychotherapy, Brian is an active researcher and a study therapist on a clinical trial investigating the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of social anxiety disorder and understanding processes of change in psychedelic therapy. He is a consultant and instructor for Fluence Training and co-chairperson for the Psychedelic Special Interest Group of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. He also co-hosts a podcast called Altered States of Context about the intersection of psychedelics and psychotherapy and is affiliate faculty at the Oregon Health and Science University.

Jeff Goldenberg is the Co-Founder of Ministry of Sativa. He also co-founded Dodi Blunts, along with NFL Superstar Marshawn Lynch, a brand of diamond infused blunts sold in California. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Abacus Growth Agency, voted the best cannabis advertising agency. He was formerly a co-founder of High 12 Brands (now Materia Ventures), a cannabis CPG brand factory.

Hardeep is Chief Product Officer and one of the co-founders of Elevated Signals, an organization that develops GMP-validated manufacturing software for the cannabis industry. With a strong focus on quality, the company manages 8+ million sq ft of production area represented by craft producers right through to enterprise level operators.

Day-to-day Hardeep helps Licensed Producers get the most out of their teams by leveraging technology to streamline operations, and compliance. Having a technical and management background, he helps his peers navigate tough choices around change management and make data-led decisions. With over 14 years of experience in software development, he is passionate about bringing technical best practices from other industries and applying them to the cannabis space, in order to help the market become sustainable from both an operating and business perspective.

Prior to co-founding Elevated Signals, Hardeep was a Lead Software Developer at Adobe. He studied Computing Science at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

Dr. Cogan received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, where his training under professor Tad Koch was focused in the field of bioorganic and medicinal chemistry. His postdoctoral studies in phosphoramidite and oligonucleotide chemistry were continued at the University of Colorado under Professor Marvin Caruthers. His past research interests have included the design and synthesis of superpotent anthracycline prodrugs, orthogonal nucleotide protecting groups, and novel ionic liquid solvent systems amenable to phosphoramidite coupling.

Dr. Cogan’s current research interest lies in the realm of medical marijuana and is focused on investigating the evidence for popular therapeutic claims made of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids.

Carl is a cannabis policy analyst and advocate from Washington DC currently living in Phuket Thailand where he writes the Substack newsletter, Cannabis in Thailand. His company Thai Hub of Cannabis distributes cannabis grown in Thailand’s Northeast region to dispensaries and cafes on the island of Phuket. He reports on cannabis legal reform in Thailand as well as import & export policy in ongoing efforts to assess what makes growth happen in the new Thai cannabis sector.

Jenna Perry is a seasoned customer success expert focusing on driving engagement and education within the cannabis industry. The Cannabis Industry provides a unique challenge to cultivate a great customer experience for all patrons, from newcomers to experienced users. Jenna connects with Cannabis Producers and Storefronts daily to ensure that all retail team members are equipped with the knowledge to create a remarkable in-house experience while maintaining brand standards.

Colin Bambury is a creative marketer and entrepreneur focused on the cannabis industry. Colin got his start in the early legacy market and has worked in legal cannabis since 2016. Bambury founded ADCANN, the number one educational resource for industry marketers in 2018 and grnhouse, an agency that represents a variety of cannabis-related clients in 2021. Having worked with top companies in the space including Weedmaps, 7ACRES, Khalifa Kush, THC Canada and more - Colin is currently the Marketing Manager at leading premium Canadian cannabis brand, Ghost Drops.

Amplifying impact as a dynamic and socially-conscious entrepreneur, Patrick uses his creativity and passion for human connectivity/happiness to unite individuals across social and corporate spectrums.

Evolving from a successful career in photography, and co-founding a number of cannabis companies, Patrick's focus is helping businesses achieve financial success while supporting nonprofits & charities in emerging industries.

Currently President at Microdose Psychedelic Insights, he's developing the organization into the industry's premier events and media platform alongside a highly motivated and engaged startup team.

Trained as a chemist and pharmaceutical scientist, Samantha has eight years of experience working with early stage therapeutics development and biotechnology companies entering growth stages and clinical development life cycles. Her areas of expertise are central nervous system disorders, neuroscience biotechnology, and psychoactive therapeutics. Samantha’s skillset is strong on both the operational side with a demonstrated history of assisting startups with the maturation of their corporate development and enterprise portfolio management strategies in addition to the investor side, performing due diligence activities for both venture capital firms and investment banks with active holdings in the life sciences. Samantha has had a large client base seeking to develop research and development initiatives in both the cannabis and psychedelics arenas and is in tune with the psychedelics movement from both an industrial and academic perspective.

Dr. Mark Johnston has been practicing psychiatry for over 15 years. His focus has always been on our aging community and what can be done to improve quality of life. He is dedicated to contributing to the effort to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease through conducting numerous clinical trials at his research clinics in Kentville and Halifax.

Shahbaaz has spent the last 5 years dedicating his life and career to improving cannabis accessibility globally. He spent 18 months as the head of sales at Lift&Co, helping launch Cannsell and the Lift Expos as well as 2 years at Dutchie as the director of the Canadian team, helping bring e commerce and POS to retailers in Canada. Currently he is the Managing Director of KIND and helped drive the first and largest legal budtender sampling event. He is passionate about cannabis and sports and hopes to one day help the Canadian Beach Soccer team leverage cannabis to win a global championship.

Paola is a Colombian-Canadian physician, specialist in integrative medicine, a recognized international speaker on topics related to the evidence-based use of medical cannabis and the ethics of medical cannabis research. She is currently the medical and scientific advisor for the Canadian cannabinoid and psychedelic contract research organization Knowde Group Inc., she is vice president of the Interdisciplinary Latin American Society of Cannabinology, the coordinator of the diploma course in therapeutic applications of cannabinoids at the Universidad del Rosario de Bogotá, Colombia, and is part of the teaching staff and the academic coordination of the International Diploma in Endocannabinology of the PUIS of the UNAM. Paola has directed the Oncology Research board of the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, and has chaired research ethics committees in her home country, Colombia.