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Dr. Monica Vialpando<br />
unexpectedly discovered<br />
her want into Cannabis<br />
Industry, and now she<br />
is by helping businesses engineer<br />
better products. She holds a<br />
patent on technology to improve<br />
the solubility of drugs, but her<br />
development portfolio boasts<br />
Cannabis products from sublingual<br />
tablets to dry powders to vape pens.<br />
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP<br />
WITH CANNABIS. HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN OPEN<br />
WITH YOUR CONSUMPTION AND ADVOCACY?<br />
I started to use Cannabis as a reward for getting<br />
homework done when I moved to the Bay Area<br />
for college. I also quickly realized that it helped<br />
me treat menstrual pain and nausea, so both<br />
medical and recreational products are very<br />
important to me and I want to have an impact<br />
on both.<br />
After college, I moved to Belgium to pursue<br />
my Ph.D. I missed the easy access to high<br />
quality flower available in California (Cannabis<br />
is still prohibited in Belgium although simple<br />
possession is decriminalized). I found myself<br />
taking over-the-counter painkillers for the<br />
kinds of issues I would have used Cannabis for<br />
back at home. My knowledge of biosciences<br />
made me acutely aware of both the increased<br />
efficacy and the decreased risk (particularly in<br />
relation to the liver) Cannabis poses to pain<br />
patients, and I think even back then I made a<br />
subconscious decision that at some point in<br />
my career I wanted to explore the potential of<br />
cannabinoids.<br />
WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND, HOW<br />
DID YOU FIND YOUR WAY TO THE CANNABIS SPACE?<br />
I have a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences<br />
with a research focus on formulation of poorly<br />
water-soluble molecules. After graduation, I<br />
worked for major pharmaceutical companies<br />
in the US and Belgium, including Johnson<br />
and Johnson, where I helped develop new<br />
medicines and oversee clinical trials.<br />
I then had the opportunity to move into<br />
vaping as Chief Scientific Officer for Liberty<br />
Flights, a major vaping company in the UK,<br />
where we designed and scaled up a huge<br />
range of successful products. Even though the<br />
products I worked with at the time contained<br />
nicotine rather than Cannabis, the knowledge<br />
I was able to build up there - particularly when<br />
you look at whether things are safe to inhale - is<br />
very relevant in today’s Cannabis market where<br />
vaping is fast replacing smoking as the delivery<br />
mechanism of choice.<br />
I moved back to the Bay Area after<br />
that and spent 18 months or so at a major<br />
pharmaceutical company, but always with one<br />
eye on the development of Cannabis products.<br />
As luck would have it, an old friend ( Johanna<br />
Nuding, founder of Casually Baked) was also<br />
looking to get into the business. Together,<br />
we studied the endocannabinoid system and<br />
cannabinoids beyond THC. I quickly realized<br />
the scientific potential and need for more<br />
research so I phased out of my pharmaceutics<br />
job and started Vialpando LLC.<br />
87 @<strong>MJ</strong>LIFESTYLE
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