Conferences & Events

NACPT is a leading Cannabis / Marijuana training provider among a few Cannabis Schools and Marijuana Institutes / Marijuana colleges in North America. NACPT brought together a highly qualified panel that included healthcare professionals, scientists and respected industry leaders to share their expertise in various sectors of the cannabis industry.

At the end of the conference, NACPT Pharma College conducted a survey from attendees, speakers, exhibitors and media publications. Overall, the conference had positive constructive feedback with a rating of 5 out of 5. Attendees had an in-depth learning opportunity with highly qualified speakers.

With a wide range of medical cannabis educational presentations and participation in panel discussions on both days, attendees were able to have their questions responded to.

NACPT celebrates “Grower day” within our campus which will be beneficial in providing several cultivating ideas for better growth to our students.

Dr. Khoja is an elocutionist, philosopher, a visionary entrepreneur & a business savvy. He has a distinguished professional career, within the high technology realms with strong adaptive ability in leading diverse regulatory programs combined with functional expertise in science and policy domains. His industrial experience spans from advising, innovating & developing cutting-edge projects. He led multidisciplinary teams consisting of Professionals-Engineers, Scientists, and Planners. While working with them; he built a foundation of strong cross-functional skills including Research & Business Development. He has been instrumental in advising to the board for several private and publicly traded start-up companies. Since then he has been a liaison for many industrial programs. In 2010, he founded ‘LeoFric Consultants, Inc.’ which helped design highly targeted knowledge-based solutions to address the global client’s challenges. Early in 2014, he Co-Founded InMed Pharmaceuticals and directed Botanical Drug development for their pre-clinical stage R&D, developing novel therapies into the extensive pharmacological application through cannabinoids. In 2015, he joined Affinor, Inc as a VP of Research and innovations and sat on the board of governors. He now serves as a CSO for NASH Pharmaceuticals, Inc and Oceanix Biotech; specializes in developing novel therapies through R&D into the extensive pharmacology from marine biomass and to develop GMP(APIs).

Dr. Khoja earned his PhD., with honors in Cellular & Molecular Biology’ from a French Ivy league: INP-ENSAT. He had his postdoctoral training from the Michigan State University a US land grant university. Soon after, he was appointed as a Research Faculty for Virginia-Tech, University of Wyoming & Texas-Tech University-Health Science Center. His breakthrough research work on “Algae 4 Fuel” was recognized by the US-DOE (Department of Energy) and raised $25 million. His scientific works have been published in over 30 peer-reviewed journals. In 2011, his work was honored by the United Nation’s-FAO. He is an elocutionist and has a command over 12 international languages.

Pauline Garrard is an advocate of Medical Marijuana and a patient since 2014. After suffering from debilitating neck pain for years, she was diagnosed with severe arthritis. She became discouraged after years of taking many different types of pain medication, because of unwanted and dangerous side effects. She finally went to her doctor to ask for a prescription for Medical Marijuana. After being turned down by her own doctor and a specialist, she went on a long journey to navigate the MMAR system (which was the system run by Health Canada before April 2014). Two years later she was finally able to obtain a license to possess and use Medical Marijuana under the new MMPR rules. After she had her license and told people with serious health concerns about it, they all wanted help to navigate the system.

That is when Canna Relief Consulting Canada Inc. was born in August 2014. The company started as a resource for patients to get assistance to access the Health Canada system by getting a prescription from a doctor. Pauline has taken many educational training including CCIC and the International Pharmaceutical Academy. She has personally educated over 1,000 patients about medical cannabis. She holds a diploma in Sales and Marketing. Canna Relief provides up to date information which comes from their studying research and from feedback from existing patients. Their goal is to be experts in the options available for the delivery of Medical Marijuana for patients and to counsel patients in a compassionate and non-judgemental environment. In April 2017 the company opened their first Canna Relief storefront location in Mississauga, Ontario. The store sells natural hemp and other healthy products such as pain creams, probiotics, and vaporizers. The store is also a resource for the public to learn about medical marijuana and the options available to them. Pauline is also working to promote and market the CannaRelief drink which is a CBD drink made from hemp. It is the first THC antidote on the market which reduces anxiety, nausea, and other negative symptoms which can occur from accidental THC overuse. It is being sold all over the USA and worldwide, and will be sold in pharmacies and other retail outlets in Canada when recreational cannabis legalization occurs in 2018

Kathleen Hedley is a former director of Health Canada and Environmental Approvals at Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, having spent over 30 years in the federal and provincial governments in a variety of regulatory and policy positions. Currently, she is the Vice President of a startup cannabis company called Green Amber Canada. As a Director with Health Canada, she worked briefly in the Office of Medical Marijuana. She has an M.Sc. in Atmospheric Chemistry from York University, Meteorology from McGill University and Bachelor of Applied Science from University of Western Ontario.

Jonathan has been a cannabis activist for many years and has gained extensive knowledge regarding effective, efficient and safe cultivation of cannabis. He has also been involved with other aspects of the industry, including safe consumption and storage of cannabis. As an activist, Jonathan has a diverse network of stakeholders across Canada who are also active in the industry. His experience working in a regulatory environment and Cannabis related experience are key when navigating through process and approvals.

Rathi Param is the president/founder of the North American College of Pharmaceutical Technology (NACPT) and ValidationTech Inc. She is also acting as the director of International Medical Cannabis Association (IMCA). Rathi earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from University Ottawa, MBA in Technology from University of Phoenix and Post Graduate Pharmaceutical QA & QC Certification from SRN Institute. She is an innovative and creative leader with more than fifteen years of hands-on experience in many scientific industries (medical cannabis, medical devices, environmental, food, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical), complemented with ten years of training/teaching experience. She possesses extensive expertise and knowledge of Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Validation, Technology Transfer, Manufacturing Technology, Process Improvements, Auditing, and Inspection. Rathi is also a QAP consultant for Green Amber Canada (Cannabis Producer). In addition, Rathi has been assisting medical cannabis companies in regards to the application process to become a Licensed Producer of Cannabis for Medical Purposes through Health Canada.

In the past 15+ years, Rathi has held strategic management roles in major Canadian name brand/generic pharmaceutical companies. Validation Scientist at Patheon Inc., Validation Services Manager at Sanofi Pasteur Limited, Toronto., Validation Specialist at CibaVision, Toronto., and Validation Quality Engineer (Consultant) at iPOC, Toronto, Quality Assurance Person in charge at Green Amber Canada, Toronto to name a few. Her interest in helping graduates to commence their careers in the pharmaceutical and related industries was the motivation to launch NACPT and Validation Tech, to provide hands-on training and create a platform to direct the pathway to successful recruitment by the pharmaceutical and related companies.

Gavin Clark has a deep understanding of cannabis and the developing industry in Canada as well as internationally. This includes the many beneficial properties of cannabis chemistry, their medical applications as well the legal framework regulating it in Canada.

A graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Political Science, Gavin has been a medical cannabis patient for more than twenty-five years and has been researching various aspects of medical cannabis use for much of that time. As Managing Director of Delta Eight Pharmaceuticals, Gavin is involved in research and development work in medical and recreational cannabis. Gavin currently works as an advisor to cannabis-based businesses including Newstrike and Up Cannabis.

Karim Meghji is a well-seasoned senior scientist with 25 years work experience in pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, CRO/CMO and CDMO companies. He acquired his MSc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo where he conducted research in microbial biotechnology and wrote a thesis on production, purification, and characterization of extracellular carboxylesterases from B. subtilis. Prior to joining North American College of Pharmaceutical Technology (NACPT), Karim worked as a senior scientist in a CDMO and generics company called DPT Labs, in San Antonio, Texas (now acquired by Mylan N.V.), that specialized in topical dermatologic products. Karim has also worked for companies like QLT Inc. in Vancouver that developed the blockbuster photodynamic therapy drug Visudyne for wet age-related macular degeneration and worked as a research associate and safety officer for a leading CRO/CMO company formerly called Northern Lipids, Inc (now Evonik Transferra Nanosciences) in Vancouver, specializing in development and manufacture of complex drug delivery systems using lipid nanoparticle science. In these companies, Karim was responsible for optimizing, developing and validating HPLC and GC methods for analysis of peptides, cytotoxics, small molecules, siRNA and dsRNA in liquid, semi-solid, aerosol foam and liposomal drug formulations. In his role as CMC Manager in a virtual biotechnology company formerly called Protox Therapeutics Inc (acquired by Sophiris Bio Inc) in Vancouver, Karim oversaw and managed all chemistry, manufacturing and control aspects of the company’s pipeline by successfully working with third-party contractors.

Dr. AKM Abdul Hai has many years of experience as a Product Development Scientist involving API Synthesis, Analytical Method, and Formulation Development. His extensive knowledge of processes of Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical drug products supported his career in Canada and abroad. To name a few, he has been working as a Chief Scientist at Molesci & Matesci Inc, Scarborough and worked as Chief Scientific Officer with CMI Cosmetic, Toronto. Dr. Hai completed PhD from Okayama University, Japan in the field of Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Chemistry and his work is published in a high level research journal and acquired specialization in Organo-copper Chemistry from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Dr Hai also did Post-doctoral research at the Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, USA. He carried out Research on Ionic Liquid Synthesis ant its application to Plant Derived Biomass conversation to small molecules of commercial application. Dr Hai was a Senior Chemist with Toronto Research Chemicals Inc, Toronto and worked on the Synthesis of Organic Complex molecules for Biomedical Research. Dr. AKM is heavily involved in Cannabis oil extraction processes and cannabinoids based product Formulation and Analytical development. He also obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Modern Technology.