SCIENCE IN THE CITY Lesson series

Cannabis Therapeutics Part 2

Fundamentals for Medical Professionals:
Science, Dosing, Risks & Contraindications 
Presented by MRA, Inc in partnership with Curaleaf Florida

What's included?

Science in the City's 4 hour curriculum has an extensive learning focus on hemp-CBD, medical cannabis, and cannabinoid pharma market

Learn about:

Designing individual treatment plans for various medical conditions utilizing or combining different forms of medical cannabis
Understand the risks and contraindications for using medical cannabis and identify drug-drug interactions
Demonstrations and guides for patient dosing and delivery of cannabinoid medicines appropriate to their condition/s 
Meet the team

Our Educators

Junella Chin, DO
For over a decade Dr. Chin practiced medicine in California, the first US state to legalize medical cannabis in 1996. In California her integrative family clinic focused on children with intractable epilepsy, cancer and autism. She has seen firsthand just how much medical cannabis can benefit patients. She returned to her native New York in 2014, where she is currently treating both children and adults. 

Dr. Chin is also a chronic pain survivor. As an athlete in college she injured her back with multiple spinal disc herniations and a spondylolisthesis. Doctors suggested opiate pain medications, steroids, epidurals, and ultimately surgery to fuse the spine. As a result of this experience, Dr. Chin has devoted her medical career in finding effective, integrative and holistic approaches to patient care. 

Many of the meritorious certificates listed on Dr. Chin’s resume demonstrate that she is more than a skilled physician. She is a healer in the true sense of the word, dedicated to thinking beyond the limitations of standard allopathic medicine. She assumed a research position at Columbia University, Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Women’s Research in New York. She also spent several years at Harvard, studying the effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine on uterine fibroids. 

Dr. Chin’s ability to forge caring relationships with patients can be traced back to her early decision to treat children in impoverished areas. She has worked in underserved communities abroad: Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Korea and China. She has also served on the board of advisors for Hollywood HEART, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving at risk teens with HIV/AIDS. 

Dr. Chin is a frequent keynote speaker on the science and medicine of cannabis and has spoken at hospitals, conferences and events all over the world. 
  • Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine - Touro University, San Francisco California
  • Nutrition, Biochemistry, Cornell University
  • Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Women’s Research, Columbia University
  • Medical Acupuncture, Harvard University
  • Hollywood Heart, Board of Advisors to non-profit organization dedicated to serving at risk teens with HIV/AIDS
  • Osteopathic Cranial Academy, Executive Board
  • Member Director of Education, Association of Cannabis Specialists
Dr. Godfrey Pearlson 
Dr. Pearlson is currently founding director of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center (www.NRC-IOL.org) at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital in Hartford CT and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Yale University Medical School.

He is a member of the Board of Physicians that advises the state of Connecticut on which conditions are appropriate for treatment with medical marijuana. He is a member of the Research Society on Marijuana and chairs its neuroscience committee. He is currently examining effects of marijuana on vehicle driving abilities in virtual environments inside the MRI scanner. His book, Weed Science, Cannabis Controversies and Challenges (Academic Press) was published in 2020.    

Dr. Pearlson is an National Institute of Mental Health MERIT awardee and currently holds RO1 grants from NIAAA, NIDA, NIDDK and NHTSA. He has been awarded a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award, the Ziskind-Sommerfeld Research Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the Albert M. Biele Lectureship from Jefferson Medical College, a Michael Visiting Professorship from the Weizmann Institute, the Dean award in schizophrenia research from the American College of Psychiatrists, the annual Mentorship Award from the American Psychiatric Association and is a member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars for distinguished alumni. 

He is also co-founder of the annual BrainDance Competition, which is open to high school and college students across New England. BrainDance encourages students to gain knowledge about psychiatric diseases and to develop a more tolerant and realistic perspective toward people with severe psychiatric problems.

Dr. Pearlson is a certified master gardener in the state of Connecticut

Education:

  • University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
  • Columbia University
  • Johns Hopkins University department of Psychiatry
Dr. Swathi Varanasi
PharmD, Integrative Health & Medical Cannabis Pharmacist

What stands between the therapeutic potential of cannabis and its widespread use is education. I am passionate about educating practitioners, students and patients on the intricacies of the endocannabinoid system and the power of food as medicine. As a healthcare disrupter, I look for opportunities to break barriers and challenge my western-trained colleagues to think beyond the conventional scope of their practice. I am a part of the movement to incorporate natural medicines core coursework into healthcare professional curricula across the country and the world. We are often scared of what we do not understand, so let’s change that.

CV: 

  • Doctor of Pharmacy, Medical University of South Carolina
  • Plant-Based Nutrition, Cornell University
  • Bachelor of Arts, Spanish, Carleton College
  • Chief Pharmacy Officer, CalEthos
  • Chief Scientific Officer, Element Apothec
  • TV Show Host, Contemporary Cannabis
  • Director of Pharmacy, Jade Health
  • Co-Founder, PharmSupplement
  • Adjunct Faculty, Emperor’s College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • Executive Committee, Pharmacy Leadership Network
Joe Dolce, MA
Joe Dolce is the founder and CEO of MedicalCannabisMentor.com and the author of Brave New Weed: Adventures into the Uncharted World of Cannabis, which was published to critical acclaim in 2016. The New York Times called the book “a loving rethink of all things marijuana … a trusted hitchhiker’s guide to this new universe. Dr. Andrew Weil said it “provides a fresh perspective and demonstrates just how little we know about this ubiquitous, multifaceted and ancient plant. Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, the godfather of cannabis research, praised it as “outstanding.”

Before diving into the world of medical cannabis, Joe worked at the highest level of media. He founded Joe Dolce Communications, one of New York City’s most highly regarded Presentation & Media Training companies, with clients as diverse as Klick Healthcare, Bolt Threads, Yahoo!, Kickstarter, Business Insider, wealthfront.com and Mozilla. Prior to that, Joe was editor-in-chief of Details magazine, which was nominated for two National Magazine awards under his guidance. He was editor-in-chief of Star, which he transformed into a celebrity glossy. He has also been a contributing editor at Gourmet and Playboy and has written for T: The New York Times Magazine, New York, Rolling Stone, Travel & Leisure, Departures, Leafly, plus dozens of other top-tier publications.

CV:
  • Medical Cannabis Mentor, Founder & CEO
  • Brave New Weed, author, Harper Wave
  • Joe Dolce Communications, President & Founder
  • Star Magazine, Editor-in-Chief
  • Details Magazine, Editor-in-Chief
  • Vogue, Senior Editor
  • Harper’s Bazaar, Senior Editor
  • New York University, MA Journalism
  • Northwestern University, BA Social Psychology/Communication Studies