Cannabis is a psychoactive drug that is established to have a variety of risks and harms. This course will review the strength of evidence behind the different risks associated. Priority topics are impairment leading to accidents; cannabis misuse/cannabis use disorder; associations with anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia; effects of cannabis on cognition and brain development; and adverse consequences for lung health. Finally, the course will review guidelines for reducing risk when consuming cannabis and evidence-based practices in the treatment of cannabis use disorder.
No Scheduled Class Meetings, May 6 - July 14 (Online)
Location:
ONLINE
Instructor:
Marie Gendy
Notes:
Instructors
Marie Gendy
Dr. Marie Gendy holds a medical degree and a master’s degree in pharmacology from Cairo University (Egypt) and a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Toronto.
As a physician in Egypt, Dr. Gendy worked in clinics focused on women’s health, obesity, and diabetes. She also taught pharmacology in the School of Medicine at Cairo University.
During her Ph.D., she conducted randomized clinical trials exploring innovative therapeutic approaches to address nicotine and alcohol addiction. She also collaborated with the pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer to evaluate drug efficacy in addiction treatment at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto.
As a Post-Doctoral Fellow joining HRI and McMaster University through the Mitacs Accelerate Industrial Fellowship, Dr. Gendy works alongside Dr. James MacKillop at the Peter Boris Centre for Addiction Research and the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research, as well as on-site supervisor, Dr. Jean Costello, Director of Evaluation.
Dr. Gendy uses an individualized-medicine approach in her research, focusing on advancing treatment for substance use disorders by testing innovative therapies and new tools for diagnosing addiction and comorbid illnesses. She explored heterogeneity underlying substance use disorder and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Her research aims to identify unique levels of craving, impulsivity, and readiness to quit among people with addiction-related illnesses in order to match individuals with targeted interventions that will better meet their personal needs, generating improved care, outcomes, and quality of life.
