40 inspirational women in cannabis

 

In honour of International Women’s Day, we’re once again celebrating the women who have gone above and beyond to make change in the field of medical cannabis

The official theme for International Women’s Day this year, is #BreakTheBias, calling on people to “imagine a gender equal world” which is free of biases, stereotypes and discrimination against women.

It comes following a report last year, which found that the representation of women and people of colour in executive positions within the cannabis industry has actually declined in the last two years. Although this data came from the US – and as far as we can see no such research has been done here in the UK yet – many reading this can probably relate.

What is clear though, is that when it comes to making change, both in the UK and further afield, it’s often women who are bold enough to lead the charge. And while compiling this it was staggering just how many women are doing incredible things in cannabis.

Some stand up and fight on behalf of their children, others share their own journeys of pain with the world, in the hope of helping others. 

Dozens are willing to go against the grain and shoulder the responsibility of prescribing, knowing the difference it could make to their patients, alongside those who have dedicated their careers to building the evidence which will allow for wider access.

There are women who have fought their rightful seat in the boardroom and those who battle hard to build the brands they believe in against the odds. Others take on daily challenges to help get the message out there, despite meeting resistance at every turn.

We wish we could include them all, but here’s just a handful of the women making a big impact in the world of medical cannabis. 

Click through to read about the change-makers, scientists, healthcare pioneers and patient leaders…

Click here to read about the industry leaders on Cannabis Wealth

The Change-makers

 

Hannah Deacon, campaigner, executive director of The Medical Cannabis Clinicians society & director, Maple Tree Consultancy

Hannah Deacon is an award-winning medical cannabis campaigner. She ran a campaign in 2017/18 with the lobby group End Our Pain, which resulted in her son Alfie Dingley receiving the first legal NHS prescription for medical cannabis. His doctors received a permanent schedule one licence in June 2018 which enabled them to prescribe legally for Alfie.

Hannah now continues to campaign for fair access to medical cannabis treatments on the NHS as well as managing leading roles as executive Director of The Medical Cannabis Clinicians society, and director of Maple Tree Consultancy. Through this work she hopes to help create a patient focused sector which will benefit patients like her son Alfie. 

She also co-founded MedCan Support, a charity which supports the parents and families of children with epilepsy.

Vera Twomey, campaigner

Irish campaigner, Vera Twomey spearheaded the campaign for access to medical cannabis in Ireland firstly on behalf of her daughter Ava Barry and subsequently on behalf of thousands who continue to seek access to medication for their family members.

Her commitment and dedication to the advocacy for cannabis has become known across the UK Europe and North America. Vera has spoken within the House of Commons and The European parliament as well as all around the Rep of Ireland and Northern Ireland on the topic of medical cannabis.

Her book, For Ava, details the struggle and dedication she exhibited to achieve access to medication for her daughter. A regular speaker surrounding the issue of medical cannabis Vera Twomey can be credited with bringing the issue of cannabis into the public sphere in Ireland. Her exceptional determination can be given significant credit for the positive changes made by the government to move the issue of cannabis in the Republic of Ireland forward.

Katya Kowalski, head of operations, Volteface 

Katya Kowalski is head of operations at Volteface, the UK’s leading drug policy think tank, where she is responsible for overseeing project development, management and external engagement.

Katya is an expert in global drug reform with a wealth of experience in research, and policy implementation. With a background in psychology she has a deep interest in the complex relationship between drug use and mental health. Katya enjoys commenting on the context and nuance surrounding drug use, along with the complexities and challenges of bringing cannabis into mainstream medicine.

Since joining the Volteface team in 2020, Katya has launched the European Cannabis Advocacy Network (ECAN), a network of advocates across Europe to streamline communication across the continent about cannabis reform. Katya believes the key way to achieve meaningful change and de-stigmatising cannabis reform is by engaging hard to reach groups. Her first policy report The New Leaf received mainstream media coverage.

Jacqueline Poitras, President and Founder of MAMAKA

Jacqueline is the president and founder of MAMAKA, a patient advocacy organisation based in Greece. Founded in 2016, MAMAKA – which roughly means ‘mothers for cannabis’ in Greek – began as a place for families to gather and exchange information about cannabis and health. Jacqueline started her journey in cannabis alongside these parents, having lived with her daughter’s own health issues for 21 years. 

MAMAKA has now represented the concerns of Greek patients at numerous events, conferences and electronic forums across Europe and beyond. It was legally recognised in Greece as a not-for-profit association in 2018 and has persisted, since then, in the struggle to change legislation and social misconceptions both at home and abroad. 

One of its major goals is to strengthen relationships with organisations in other countries in an attempt to standardise availability for all patients and to share experience and knowledge for the benefit of loved ones. This was the initial concept behind the idea of the Patient Council and MAMAKA remains dedicated to that goal.

Jacqueline says: “We owe it all to those first mothers who refused to believe the ‘never’ that was the only answer the medical profession would give them up until now.”

Dr Anna Ross, drug policy expert and researcher 

Dr Anna Ross is specialist in drug policy stakeholder engagement, with her PhD focusing on the participation of stakeholders in the development of drug policy in Scotland. She is currently a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Health at the University of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Research Assistant for Drug Science.

Dr Ross has held a range of advisory committee positions, having worked for the Scottish Government on developing safeguarding protocols, and the UK Government as Special Advisor to the Scottish Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into Problem Drug Use. Over the past five years, she has worked alongside the Medicinal Cannabis Reform Scotland (MCRS) group to develop pathways of engagement between MSP’s, the police and other stakeholders.

Now working independently to provide advice and consultancy, Dr Ross has over 20 years experience of practitioner work with substance use, including cannabis, and identifies as a lived and living experienced researcher, passionate about the human rights based approaches to drug regulation.

Basia Zieniewicz, co-founder, Cannabis Patient Advocacy & Support Services (CPASS) 

Pedagogue by vocation, Basia Zieniewicz’s premise stems from a heart-led view that we all have limitless potential. Her passion is progress and cultural evolution, and she is an advocate for psycho-social reform. Combining a multidisciplinary approach exploring the arts, conscious body-mind balancing, transpersonal dimensions and plant medicines.

Basia has been involved in the medical cannabis sector since 2016 wearing various hats as she grew her own spectrum of understanding from agricultural immersion in California to law-changing campaigning in the UK alongside the Caldwell’s in 2018. This led her to partake in the formation of the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis followed by founding a cultural reform 2-part, arts & science, series pilot in 2019 by the name CANNTalks: Curating A New Normal at the Old Divinity School at Cambridge University.

Just prior to the pandemic, Basia launched, alongside the former Health Minister and Under-Secretary of State, Professor Ann Keen RN, a patient advocacy organisation led by nurses and in collaboration with the Queens Nursing Institute, Cannabis Patient Advocacy & Support Services @cannpass.

Basia is a recent graduate of the first European, UK-based, Post Graduate Professional Certificate program in Psychedelics, Altered States and Transpersonal Psychology under Professor David Luke as well as Holistic Psychosynthesis Leadership Coaching and currently developing her practice combining yoga, coaching and holistic mental health well being. Trustee to Sapphire Medical Cannabis Clinic and former vice president of Medicinal Cannabis Europe.

The patient leaders 

 

Abby Hughes, co-founder and chair, Patient-led Engagement for Access (PLEA)

Proficient in curating change culture and service transformation, Abby is an experienced NHS operations lead dedicated to advocating for patients.

Transferring her expertise, she has acted as a patient access consultant for Drug Science’s Project Twenty21, Europe’s largest medicinal cannabis registry evidencing safety and efficacy. 

Abby lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and a host of associated co-morbidities including fibromyalgia and POTS. Finding out at age 32 that she is autistic and has ADHD, she is now looking at life through a new lens. 

Welcoming baby Olive into the world towards the end of 2021, Abby is a proud mama raising a change-maker for the next generation. 

A committed volunteer in the medicinal cannabis sector for over nine years, Abby is a founding director of PLEA and is a patient expert on Cannabis Health’s expert panel.

Lucy Stafford, co-founder and advocacy director, Patient-led Engagement for Access (PLEA)

 Having spent most of her teenage years in severe pain, dependent on opiates and a feeding tube, discovering medical cannabis has transformed Lucy’s health and quality of life. 

She has shared her experiences extensively in the media to call for improved access, including BBC News, Good Morning Britain, The Telegraph and The Guardian. Currently studying a Medical Neuroscience degree at the University of Sussex, Lucy aims to study cannabinoid science in future. 

Marking the first peer-reviewed research exploring medicinal cannabis and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, her case study was published in the British Medical Journal. 

She co-founded PLEA and launched the UK’s annual Medical Cannabis Awareness Week. As PLEA’s advocacy director, she has hosted and presented at a range of clinician and patient educational events around medicinal cannabis.

Carly Barton, founder Carly’s Amnesty & Cancard

Carly Barton is a former lecturer in the Arts who has a creative background that includes exhibiting at the Tate and the Saatchi gallery. After having to give up her role due to health problems, she discovered that medical cannabis was not only an appropriate, but more effective substitute for opioids to treat her fibromyalgia, lupus and post-stroke neuropathy.

Carly now advocates for patient access to medical cannabis as an advisor to patient advocacy groups in the UK as well as many international organisations. She was the first person in the UK to receive a prescription for cannabis privately since the law change in 2018, after not being able to sustain the costs of this she is working tirelessly with government organisations in order to progress NHS prescriptions. 

She is involved in many projects that seek to establish wider access to medical cannabis in the UK, most notably launching Carly’s Amnesty which set the stage for Cancard, a collaborate project that has seen her connect high level police forces, doctors, patients and MPs on a scheme that reduces the fear 1.1 million cannabis consumers have around interference from the police. Cancard now represents a little over 50k medical cannabis patients in the UK and is now officially the largest patient advocacy group in Europe. 

Carly’s work has seen her garner international press coverage and awards for her dedication to advocacy and change for patients who require the use of this life changing medicine.

Gillian Flood, member of PLEA management committee

Diagnosed with depression and anxiety in her teens, and PTSD and fibromyalgia later in life, Gillian has tried various medications in an attempt to combat her symptoms. Various antidepressants and gabapentinoids over the years have not helped in suppressing such pain levels and other symptoms.

Having been prescribed medical cannabis since April 2020, Gillian’s life has now changed. She is able to spend great time with her kids, five out of six of whom have ASD, and so require a lot of support. The pressure has been taken off of her husband, who at one time was tackling almost all aspects of the family’s day-to-day living.

Gillian wants most for cannabis medicines to be available on the NHS to anyone who needs it and to end the stigma attached to parents who medicate with cannabis.

Kayleigh Ross, member of PLEA’s Patient Working Group

​​Kayleigh has been using cannabis for around five years to treat various conditions, including Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), Fibromyalgia and C-PTSD.

Struggling for a number of years to suppress her symptoms using a prescribed cocktail of opioid and gabapentinoid pharmaceuticals, Kayleigh eventually resorted to trying cannabis. The stigma of being a parent and using cannabis had previously cast a shadow over her progress.

The first patient in Scotland to be enrolled in Project Twenty21, Kayleigh has now become an inspiring vocal advocate for cannabis medicines, running her own support group Medical Cannabis Shetland And Scotland – MCAS.

Her story has featured across multiple newspapers and magazines, with Kayleigh discussing the topic on BBC Radio Scotland. She also appeared as a panelist at Global Cannabis Institute Europe 2020.

The healthcare pioneers 

 

Lisa Reilly, lead nurse, My Access Clinics 

With over 13 years’ experience in both the NHS and the private sector, Lisa says nothing has been more powerful and significant than the journey she is on now, as lead nurse at MyAccess Clinics, specialising in cannabis-based products for medicinal use.

Lisa became interested in medical cannabis after seeing the transformative effects it had on patients, and undertook a three-year herbal medicine course to help educate herself. Despite facing negative attitudes from her colleagues, Lisa says that the opportunity to re-educate patients, medical professionals and members of the public is a true privilege and she is delighted to be one of a handful of female nurses within the UK behind the driving force that is medical cannabis. 

Dr Sally Ghazaleh, pain and women’s health expert, Integro Medical Clinics 

Dr Ghazaleh is a pain management consultant in the NHS, as well as prescribing cannabis-based medicines as women’s pain expert at Integro Medical Clinics. 

Sally specialises in managing patients with lower back pain, neck pain, neuropathic pain, abdominal pain, cancer pain, complex regional pain syndrome, post-stroke pain and fibromyalgia. She has a particular interest in bladder and abdominal pain in women, and women’s health in general. 

Dr Kavita Praveen, psychiatrist, Sapphire Medical Clinics

Dr Kavita Praveen has extensive experience, expertise and passion in the field of Mental Health both within the NHS and independent sector.

She assesses and treats a range of emotional and developmental disorders including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, ADHD, ASD and other complex mental health disorders. She has specialism in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr Praveen is also a Functional Medicine Practitioner.

Dr Luisa Searle, consultant psychiatrist, The Medical Cannabis Clinics

Dr Searle is a consultant psychiatrist with The Medical Cannabis Clinics and is currently the lead consultant for the substance misuse service in the borough of Westminster and of the substance misuse service for under 25’s in the boroughs of Camden and Islington. She has over 15 years of experience in working with patients from many different backgrounds.

Dr Searle says: “I have a particular interest in patients with multiple diagnoses and how these intersect and impact patient well-being. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work in a number of different fields that have equipped me of the challenges of modern Psychiatry. I believe in understanding my patients holistically to provide the best possible outcomes for them.”

Katrina Boulton, nurse specialist, The Medical Cannabis Clinics 

Katrina has worked within healthcare supporting patients, families and carers for more than 10 years, four of those as a registered adult nurse. Her clinical experiences involve pain management, accident & emergency, hospice and palliative care nursing.

When her daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy, Katrina completed a postgraduate qualification in epilepsy nursing and went onto research the benefits of medical cannabis. In 2020, she was able to access a private prescription for her daughter. 

Having seen the effects on her daughter’s life, Katrina left the NHS last year, having worked throughout the pandemic, to do something she really believed in – helping other patients access this medicine. 

Dr Dani Gordon, women’s health expert and specialist in integrative and cannabinoid medicine

Dr Dani Gordon is a London based double board certified doctor and world leading expert in cannabinoid and integrative medicine having treated thousands of patients with medical cannabis. Her UK medical practice focuses on cannabinoid and integrative medicine for women’s health and mental health.  

She is vice chair of the UK Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and a member of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group and trained the UK’s first cannabis specialist physicians and developed the UK’s first physician  training course. She speaks internationally on cannabis medicine and has spoken at the UN and lectured at universities including Imperial College, King’s College and UCL.  She is a signed author with Hachette UK and USA with books including The CBD Bible and the forthcoming Resilience Blueprint.  

She has regularly featured in the Sunday Times, The Guardian, Telegraph, BBC radio and TV appearance on  BBC and Channel 4.  As a holistic women’s health expert she has been featured in top women’s publications including Vogue, Marie Claire, Glamour Magazine and Top Sante. 

The cannabis scientists 

 

Dr Anne Schlag, head of research, Drug Science

Dr Anne Katrin Schlag is a chartered psychologist and head of research at Drug Science. She leads the research for the Drug Science Medical Cannabis Working Group, focusing on controversies surrounding medical cannabis, the improvement of patient access, and the continued development of education and stakeholder communication about medical cannabis.

Dr Schlag is currently working on progressing the scientific evidence base of medical cannabis to include Patient Reported Outcomes, observational studies (such as Project Twenty21) and the application of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to assess the benefits and safety of medical cannabis.

She holds honorary fellowships at both Imperial College London and King’s College London, chairs the research subgroup of the Cannabis Industry Council, and is scientific advisor to the Primary Care Cannabis Network and MedCan Support.

Dr Elisabeth Philipps PhD BSc (Hons) BSc Nutr Med AFMCP, clinical neuroscientist

Dr Elisabeth Philipps is a clinical neuroscientist and leading expert on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and cannabinoid medicine including CBD and medical cannabis.

She runs a successful integrative medicine consultancy specialising in brain health and regularly presents translational research at conferences and events and provides expert opinion for the national press, specialist healthcare publications and health companies.

 

Alkyoni Athanasiou-Fragkouli, study coordinator, Project Twenty21

Alkyoni Athanasiou-Fragkouli is the study co-ordinator for Project Twenty21. After completing a master’s degree in Clinical Neuroscience at University College London, she worked for two years at the UCL Institute of Neurology investigating rare genetic neuromuscular disorders.

During her master’s she developed an interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics and became passionate about improving drug education. Alkyoni is committed to fighting the battle to overcome barriers to medical cannabis in the UK and ensure patients get the access they need and the help they deserve.

Dr Hannah Thurgur, study coordinator, Project Twenty21

Dr Hannah Thurgur completed a Neuroscience PhD at the University of Manchester, which investigated the role of inflammation and the extracellular matrix in repair after stroke. After her PhD, Hannah was an Executive Officer at the British Neuroscience Association, where she helped promote neuroscience research and represent neuroscientists across the UK. 

During her PhD, she became involved with drug policy reform advocacy and developed a strong interest in medical psychedelics. Hannah now applies her research skills within the areas of medical cannabis and medical psychedelics. She is also passionate about harm reduction and improved drug education for young people.

 

Saoirse O’Sullivan, PhD, professor of pharmacology 

Professor Saoirse Elizabeth O’Sullivan received her doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in 2001 and moved to the University of Nottingham in 2002 as a research fellow where she began researching cannabinoid pharmacology through basic and clinical research. She was made Lecturer in 2007, associate professor in 2011 and full professor in 2019. 

She has over 50 peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters on the topic of cannabinoid pharmacology.  Her specific interests are on the therapeutic potential of cannabis-based medicines in cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.  Her research methodologies spanned from cellular and animal models, to human healthy volunteer studies, systematic reviews and early phase clinical trials. 

Saoirse is the vice president of translational Sciences at Artelo Biosciences, a cannabinoid based pharmaceutical company. She also runs an independent consulting company called CanPharmaConsulting Ltd, and through this, acts as scientific advisor to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. 

She also works with charities, patient groups and healthcare professionals to educate on the benefits of cannabis-based medicines, and is the secretary of the International Cannabinoid Research Society.

Dr Tara Mastracci, founder and medical director, Seed Change

A lead vascular surgeon at one of the main London teaching hospitals, Dr Tara Mastracci believes healthcare is a fundamental human right, and that equal access to care should be a goal of all health care providers.

Having completed general and vascular surgery training at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, she moved on to a fellowship in complex aortic repair at the Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr Mastracci’s first consultant position followed on in Cleveland, where she also held a position as assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University for seven years.

A clinical epidemiologist by training, she focuses most of her research in clinical outcomes related to disease of the aorta.

As a founder and medical director at Seed Change, Dr Mastracci is passionate about helping patients in the UK benefit from the therapeutic effects of cannabis by advocating an evidence-based approach to its study and therapeutic use.

 

Click here to read about the rest of the industry leaders on Cannabis Wealth

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