Startup Grind: Cannabis Culture

Mar 25, 2021, 10:00 PM – Mar 26, 2021, 12:00 AM

Join us March 25th as Startup Grind presents Cannabis Culture — a panel discussion featuring an eclectic mix of industry leaders.

Virtual event

About this event

Join us March 25th as Startup Grind presents Cannabis Culture — a panel discussion featuring an eclectic mix of industry leaders. Join us for an evening of valuable insight into how this budding industry is impacting medicine, innovation, culture, and more!


The Panelists:

Dr. Mark Kimmins, Medical Cannabis Physician Lead for The Clinic Network

Dr. Joshua Eades, Chief Science Officer for Tilray

Jeff Meyers, Co-Founder for Novem Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Michael Veneziano, CEO & Co-Founder of Turnkey Aquaponics Inc.


Moderated by: Frank Auddino, Spark Centre's Angel In Residence


Don’t miss this exciting evening of networking, thought-leadership and a chance to have your questions answered by the experts!


6:00 PM – Networking

6:30 PM – Panel Discussion & Live Q&A


ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Mark H. Kimmins MD, FRCSC, FACS, FASCRS    Medical Cannabis Physician Lead, The Clinic Network

Dr. Kimmins is a medical doctor and surgeon who is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, and a Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. He has extensive experience in academic medicine, subspecialty community medicine, cannabis medicine, and healthcare related business. He is board certified in both the US and Canada, and a citizen of both countries.

Dr. Kimmins’ interest in medical cannabis started with a personal belief in the benefits of the plant and developed further with first-hand observation of the positive therapeutic effects in both patients and sick family members. Over time he began to document the significant benefit of its use as an adjuvant treatment to traditional pain medicines after surgery. This led to deeper exploration of the published science supporting use of cannabis as medicine and increasing requests to speak publicly on the topic. Increasing opportunities in the emerging cannabis industry resulted in a decision to retire from active clinical practice in early 2017.

Mark has worked full time in the medical cannabis industry since 2017 when he became Chief Medical Director for Sunniva. In 2018 he became President of Natural Health Services, a patient centered medical cannabis clinic and wholly owned division of Sunniva. He continued in this role until late 2019 when NHS was acquired by The Clinic Network Canada (TCN), a deal which he helped negotiate and broker. He now serves as consultant to TCN in the role of Medical Cannabis Physician lead. In September 2020 he became Chief Medical Officer of Peregrine Precision Systems. He lectures regularly on medical cannabis, has appeared as an expert guest on numerous radio stations, sits on a number of industry advisory boards, and is the author of the textbook “Medical Cannabis in Canada”.


Joshua Eades, PhD Chief Science Officer, Tilray

Dr. Eades is Chief Science Officer at Tilray, where he leads the company’s research and product development teams to drive forward innovative new commercial and clinical products and technologies. As an executive leader and entrepreneur, Dr. Eades has decades of experience and extensive knowledge of the cannabis industry, as well as the biotech/pharmaceutical development space. He holds his PhD in Biology from the University of Victoria, and BSc in Genetics from the University of British Columbia.


Jeffrey Meyers Co-Founder, Novem Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Jeff has over 24 years of Law Enforcement experience, in which time he has established himself as an operational leader and seasoned investigator. As a member of Canada’s National Police Force, he has received expert training in many areas including but not limited to, Investigative Techniques (specializing in Organized Crime), Interview and Interrogation, Undercover Operations, VIP and Witness Protection, as well as Urban/Rural Surveillance. As a member of Canada’s National Border Protection Agency, he oversaw border security and assisted other countries by conducting security audits of airports, seaports and land borders as a Subject Matter Expert. Post retirement, he has established himself as a regulatory compliance and due diligence Subject Matter Expert as it relates to regulated industries. Most recently, as the founder and VP of Novem Pharmaceuticals, Meyers is focused on supporting the rapidly emerging psychedelic’s market. Based on a foundation of safe, secure and compliant industry experience developed in the Canadian legalized cannabis sector, Novem has developed a platform that will bridge the gap between clinical research and medical sales.


Michael Veneziano CEO & Co-Founder, Turnkey Aquaponics Inc.

Michael Veneziano holds a Bachelors Degree of Engineering in Energy Systems and an Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technicians diploma. In 2015 while completing his degree at Ontario Tech University he co-founded Turnkey Aquaponics and has served as its CEO since inception. His technical focus is on energy in the agricultural sector. He servers as Turnkey Aquaponics tech lead for their Combine Heat and Power system and LED grow light projects.

While not working for Turnkey Aquaponics, Michael mentors and teaches STEM topics to students ranging from grade 1 to grade 12. Over the past 10 years, he has taught over 600 students both in classrooms and out. Michael has always believed in the importance of education and empowering our youth with the skills necessary to become innovators and succeed in society.

Check out what happened

When

When

March 25 – 26, 2021
10:00 PM – 12:00 AM UTC

Agenda

Event Start - Networking Begins
Panel Discussion + Live Q&A
Event Ends

Organizers

  • Kristina Svana

    Spark Centre

    Chapter Director

  • Kailee Somers

    Spark Centre

    Co-Director

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