PCA2023

Speakers

Lucy Haslam Speaker

Lucy is a retired nurse, mother and grandmother from NSW but now residing in Queensland. Her 20-year nursing career included the establishment of a successful home nursing care agency. Together with husband Lou (a retired NSW Police officer), they raised three sons in Tamworth. Lucy always considered herself fairly conservative in her views and strict in her parenting style but the diagnosis of stage four bowel cancer for her youngest son Daniel, in 2010, challenged her perceptions around cannabis as it became a miraculous remedy for the extreme side effects of chemotherapy. With a strong desire to care for her son, Lucy embarked on a mission to educate herself and the Australian audience about the therapeutic properties of cannabis. In 2014 Lucy and Daniel were considered criminals as they accessed cannabis on the black market. Dan lost his battle with cancer in February 2015. Despite this Lucy’s campaign for

the re-introduction of Medicinal Cannabis has seen its legal status change at a state and federal level. Lucy founded United in Compassion in 2014 and she now sees her role as both advocate for other patients and as an educator in Dan’s memory. In her role as UIC Director Lucy strives to keep the emerging industry patient centric and morally grounded. In 2014 she organised the Inaugural Australian Medicinal Cannabis Symposium and followed up in 2016, 2017 and 2019 with three more international conferences with the next event in planning for the Sunshine Coast in May 2022. Lucy sat on the Advisory Council for the NSW Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation and on the ACT Non-Executive Medicinal Cannabis Advisory Council. In 2020 Lucy Co-Founded the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association where she fulfils the role of Chair. The same year she also founded The Australian Chapter of the Society of Cannabis

Clinicians. She is keen to remain active in the industry to continue to represent patients and keep their needs at the centre of the emerging medicinal cannabis market. Lucy was nominated and a NSW State finalist in the 2016 Australian of the Year Awards. She has received the Paul Harris Fellowship Rotary Award for her medicinal cannabis advocacy and was named as one of the top 100 Women of Influence in 2016, again for her work in reintroducing medicinal cannabis. Lucy believes that once you understand the benefits of Medicinal Cannabis and its potential to relieve suffering, you cannot hold on to views that were born of the “war on drugs”. She predicts that Cannabis will one day be viewed as a “wonder drug” and hopes that mothers and nurses can lead the revolution!

Dr Katja Hogendoorn Speaker

Dr Katja Hogendoorn is a senior researcher of bees and crop pollination at the University of Adelaide. Her research focuses on bees as pollinators of crops and native plants, and investigating the management decisions that improve bee health, biodiversity, and

crop pollination services, outside and in protected cropping. This involves improving the understanding of the factors that influence bee foraging and nesting behaviour, so their natural requirements can be better met. In addition, she translates this information

for beekeepers, growers of pollination dependent crops, and restoration and land care managers, to achieve better outcomes for crop pollination and biodiversity. Currently, she is focusing on improving pollination services in netted apple orchards.

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