Raphael Mechoulam

Weizmann Institute of Science, Rockefeller University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Raphael Mechoulam ( November 5, 1930) is an Israeli organic chemist and professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Mechoulam is best known for his work (together with Y. Gaoni, C. Trips, and S. Benezra) in the isolation, structure elucidation and total synthesis of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active principle of cannabis and for the isolation and the identification of the endogenous cannabinoids anandamide from the brain and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) from peripheral organs together with his students, postdocs and collaborators. - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Mechoulam)

Roger Pertwee

University of Aberdeen

Roger Pertwee has three degrees from the University of Oxford: MA (in biochemistry), D.Phil. (in pharmacology) and D.Sc. (in physiological sciences). He is now an Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen, where he is still actively engaged in scientific research. He is also co-chairman of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) Subcommittee on Cannabinoid Receptors, a co-ordinator of the British Pharmacological Society’s Special Interest Group on Cannabinoids, a co-founder of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) <http://icrs.co/> , and an invited scientific advisor on cannabinoid pharmacology/therapeutics to the Beckley Foundation <http://beckleyfoundation.org/about/advisory-boards/>, has had formal cannabinoid pharmacology-related links with several pharmaceutical companies, and currently has such a link with GW Pharmaceuticals.

Allyn Howlett

Wake Forest School of Medicine

Allyn Howlett is a biochemical neuropharmacologist, whose expertise is on cannabinoid receptor signal transduction. She is noted for my discovery of the CB1 receptor for cannabinoid agonists, development of the radioligand binding assay for the cannabinoid receptors that led to their identification, and development of antibodies that have been made available to researchers world-wide. She has worked with academic and private sector chemists in characterization of the structure-activity relationships of cannabinoid receptor agonists and her investigation of ligand-biased G protein activation has received editorial commentary.

Marilyn A. Huestis

National Institute on Drug Abuse

Marilyn Ann Huestis (born 1948) is an American toxicologist researching the effects of illicit drugs on the body, brain, and in utero. She was chief of the chemistry and drug metabolism section at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Huestis' research program had sought to discover mechanisms of action of cannabinoid agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and pharmacokinetics of novel psychoactive substances, the emerging face of drug abuse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Huestis)

Mahmoud A. ElSohly

School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi

Mahmoud A. ElSohly, Ph.D., is President and Laboratory Director of ELI. He serves as Research Professor in the National Center for Natural Products Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Professor of Pharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi. Dr. ElSohly is the director of the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Yasmin Hurd

Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai

Dr. Yasmin Hurd is the Ward-Coleman Chair of Translational Neuroscience and the Director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai. Dr. Hurd's multidisciplinary research investigates the neurobiology underlying addiction disorders and related psychiatric illnesses. A translational approach is used to examine molecular and neurochemical events in the human brain and comparable animal models in order to ascertain neurobiological correlates of behavior. A major focus of the research is directed to risk factors of addiction disorders including genetics as well as developmental exposure to drugs of abuse such as cannabis. The group also conducts human clinical trials in developing novel therapies for opioid use disorder.