May 2021

George Hodgin

Title: Access to Federally Compliant Cannabis for Research
George Hodgin is the Founder and CEO of Biopharmaceutical Research Company (BRC), an applicant with the Drug Enforcement Administration to produce federally compliant cannabis products for research. BRC holds several DEA Schedule I Registrations and engages in compliant cannabis research. He is a former Navy SEAL officer and alumnus of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He was commissioned as an officer in the Navy in 2009, after earning a BA in Economics and Mandarin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain scholar. George led SEALs in combat in counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. His hobbies include fly-fishing and hiking with his family and dog. He and his wife and two sons live in Carmel-By-the-Sea, California.

Ajay Nayak

Title: Navigating through cannabis research: an academic story of partnerships and collaborations
Ajay Nayak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. He has an appointment in the Center for Translational Medicine and the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at TJU. Ajay received his B.Sc. and M. Sc. In Microbiology from the University of Mumbai and came to the US in 2006 to pursue his doctoral degree from West Virginia University. Ajay was a civilian employee with the Federal government at CDC/NIOSH in Morgantown, WV. Ajay has been actively involved in cannabis research efforts for almost a decade. His primary areas of interest in the field of allergy. He is also interested in examining the physiological and pathophysiological effects of cannabis on human health. He is engaged in multiple collaborations both nationally and internationally to further cannabis research. His lab has an active research grant from NIH to develop diagnostic tools for determining cannabis allergies.