Editorial Board profiles

David A. Gorelick, MD, PhD, DLFAPA, is Professor of Psychiatry (part-time) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, having retired in October 2013 from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Baltimore, Maryland.  

Dr Gorelick received his MD and PhD (pharmacology) degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York in 1976, and did his medical internship and psychiatric residency at the University of California, Los Angeles. After completing training in 1980, he joined the faculty of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and the medical staff of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he directed inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs. Dr Gorelick joined NIDA in 1989 as a tenured physician-scientist.  

His research interests are the clinical pharmacology of substance use, substance withdrawal, and biological treatments of substance use disorders, including medication, drug-metabolizing enzymes, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), resulting in more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Dr Gorelick has authored or co-authored more than 50 book chapters and spoken at major national and international medical and scientific conferences. His recent work focuses on cannabis (including its potential therapeutic uses), cocaine, and individuals with co-morbid psychiatric disorders.  

Dr Gorelick is board certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine, and a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr Gorelick is also interested in the ethics of clinical research, serving for 10 years as chair of the NIDA Institutional Review Board and as a member of the NIH Human Subjects Research Advisory Committee and the NIH Committee on Scientific Conduct and Ethics.

Sharon Anavi-Goffer is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Scotland.  

Dr Anavi-Goffer's research is focused on the pharmacology of cannabinoids and cellular distribution of the cannabinoid receptors. Working with GW Pharmaceuticals she played a major role in discovery of the structure-activity-relationship of phytocannabinoids at the GPR55, promoting the development of CBDV to treat neuroblastoma. 

Dr Anavi-Goffer’s current research is directed at the role of the cannabinoid system in mental diseases. Her research has been funded by the Tourette Association of America (TAA) and the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel, focusing on the development of new drugs to treat Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia. Dr Anavi-Goffer is member of the Advisory Committee of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Israel and a member of the TAA International Consortium for Medical Cannabis and Related Drugs for Tic Disorders.

Dr Anavi-Goffer is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for the Endocannabinoid system. This section covers the biochemistry and genetics of the endogenous cannabinoid system and its role in physiology and behavior in all species. The endocannabinoid system comprises the receptors, their endogenous ligands, and the cells and cell circuits in which they function.

Dr Julia Arnsten is Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Epidemiology & Population Health. Dr Arnsten is a general internist with a long-standing interest in behavioral medicine, including adherence with medication-taking, nicotine dependence, and substance abuse. She currently leads led an NIH-funded research program focused on addiction and chronic medical illness.

Dr Arnsten graduated from the New York University School of Medicine in 1990 and completed residency training in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital and New York University Medical Center in 1993. She then completed a research fellowship in General Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1998-2002, Dr Arnsten was a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar. In 2002, she was awarded an R25 grant from NIDA to start a clinical addiction research and education fellowship for physicians; this program has now been funded for over a decade. Dr Arnsten has been recognized for outstanding teaching and mentoring with several local and national awards.

Dr Arnsten is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for Cannabis-related disorders. This section covers prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment (both psychological and physical) of all cannabis-related disorders, including intoxication, withdrawal, and cannabis use disorder (addiction), as well as their medical and psychiatric consequences and co-morbidities.

Nirit Bernstein is a senior research scientist at Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, at the Institute of Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences, and Head of the Department of Soil Physics and Irrigation, Israel. 

A Plant Physiologist by training, Dr Bernstein's research focuses on control mechanisms for production of plant derived pharmaceuticals in medicinal plants by manipulation of environmental conditions and agronomic practices, optimization of agrotechniques for environmentally stressed plants, mineral nutrition of plants, and plant stress physiology. 

Dr Bernstein is also the first scientist in Israel to study cannabis – whole plant, and her current work involves physiology, biochemistry, optimization of cultivation practices, and improvement of genetic material of cannabis.

Dr Bernstein is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for Agriculture and plant biology. This section covers all species and strains of the Cannabis plant, including their cultivation and biology.

Brian Fairman is an epidemiologist whose primary interest is in understanding and addressing drug use, addiction, and related health consequences in the population. One of the areas he studies is how social contexts, such as neighborhoods, policies, and peers/families, influence drug-using behaviors over time. He also investigates how people use drugs from how they combine them to new methods of consumption. 

Dr Fairman is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for Epidemiology and public health. This section covers the epidemiology of cannabis use and cannabis-related disorders in all populations, as well as their impact on public health, public safety, and socioeconomic conditions.

Cheryl Fitzer-Attas, PhD, MBA carries over 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, including successful positions in start-up, medium sized-biotech, large pharma, and not-for-profit organizations. She is a versatile leader, whose experience extends across varied domains including medical affairs, clinical R&D, regulatory, commercial, and business development. 

Dr Fitzer-Attas has, in recent years, applied this knowledge to medical cannabis via her company, ClinMed Affairs, and provides clinical research methodologies, regulatory/market advice and business development expertise in this area. She has also expanded her focus to digital health programs such as the use of wearables in clinical research and the deployment of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Dr Fitzer-Attas is the founder of Platient Research Technologies, which is developing an on-demand digital platform for clinical research in medical cannabis.

Dr Fitzer-Attas is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for History, regulation, and public policy, and Commerce, business, and environment. These sections cover commercial uses of the cannabis plant and the business, financial, environmental, legal, public safety, and regulatory aspects of the cannabis industry, its cultivation, use, and cannabis-related disorders.

Celia Morgan is Professor of Psychopharmacology at University of Exeter, UK. 

Dr Morgan is interested in the effects of cannabis on the brain and behavior. Her research has concentrated on examining both the positive and negative effects of cannabinoids on cognition and addiction, through behavioural and neuroimaging studies. 

Her work also has focused on what makes individuals vulnerable to the harmful effects of certain substances, like cannabis. More recently, she has begun to investigate the potentially therapeutic sides of cannabinoids in clinical trials.

Dr Morgan is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for Cannabis and cannabinoid clinical pharmacology. This section covers Phase I and observational human studies, including pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and toxicology.

Charles W. Schindler received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from American University in 1980. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, he joined the NIDA IRP in 1985 as a Staff Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Steven R. Goldberg. The focus of his early research was on determining the cardiovascular effects of psychomotor stimulants, in particular cocaine, and how those effects might be altered following drug treatment. 

Throughout his tenure with Dr. Goldberg, he also maintained an interest in the behavioral effects of drugs of abuse, and in particular drug self-administration. He joined the Designer Drug Unit (DDRU) in 2016 as a Staff Scientist. His research is currently focused on the behavioral and physiological effects of designer drugs, in particular the synthetic cathinones.

Dr Schindler is the Journal of Cannabis Research Section Editor for Cannabis and cannabinoids preclinical pharmacology. This section covers in vitro and animal studies involving whole-plant products, plant-derived constituents (phytocannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids), and synthetic cannabinoids.