Christine Roussel, PharmD, BCOP is a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist and Board Certified Sterile Compounding Pharmacist with a bachelor's in Toxicology and Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She is Director of Pharmacy at Doylestown Hospital, facilitator/content author/consultant for Medisca/LP3 Network, and Program Director for St. Joe's Medical Cannabis Education Program for Healthcare Providers. On top of her day job of overseeing the clinical and operational aspects of patient care, she provides over 100 hours of education to pharmacists, physicians, and nurses each year.

Dr. Roussel focuses on occupational exposure to hazardous drugs, sterile/non-sterile compounding, Medical Cannabis, and clinical and legislative topics, such as opioid stewardship, drug diversion prevention, pharmaceutical waste and contamination. She also serves as a consultant for cleanroom facility design and has authored articles on occupational exposure to hazardous drugs, as protecting healthcare providers’ DNA is her primary passion!

In 2018 she was nationally recognized as “40 Under 40 in Oncology”.

She is active in many professional organizations including:

• American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacy
• Pennsylvania Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists
• International Society of Cannabis Pharmacists
• American Industrial Hygiene Association
• International Association of Compounding Pharmacy

Peggy Compton explores the clinical intersection among opioids, pain and addiction. She has broad expertise in the phenomenon of opioid-induced hyperalgesia, identifying opioid use disorder (OUD) in patients on opioid therapy for the treatment of chronic pain, and the management of pain and withdrawal in hospitalized patients with OUD. She advocates for effective pain care as a humane approach to developing a therapeutic alliance with persons with OUD as a means to encourage improved health care outcomes and recovery.

She currently serves as the Program Director of the Hillman Shcolars in Nursing Innovation and as a Professor of Nursing, in the Department of Family and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania.

Paula Bermel PT, DPT, CLT, CWS is an Assistant Professor of Instruction within Temple University's Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. She earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Arcadia University and worked at Temple University Hospital for eight years, where she was a Physical Therapist and a Wound Care Specialist. She obtained certifications in both lymphedema and wound care.

As a Certified Wound Specialist, she focused on initiating negative pressure therapy and the treatment of pressure injuries, diabetic foot ulcers and wounds in an inpatient and outpatient setting.

As a Physical Therapist she focused on ICU level care, evaluating and treating in the Cardiac, Respiratory, COVID, Burn and neonatal ICU’s.

She enjoys the immense challenges and great rewards of working with a diverse patient population and is passionate about the importance of a collaborative and holistic approach to patient care.

Adam Al-Asad is Co- Founder and Director of Operations at Savage Sisters Recovery Inc, a non-profit organization in Pennsylvania that provides harm reduction outreach, education, and trauma-informed recovery housing for people affected by substance use disorder.

Dr. Work is an expert on providing medical care and public health services to the most marginalized populations. He currently serves as a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

He has more than 20 years of experience in harm reduction and substance use disorder treatment and research. He is a long time physician volunteer at Prevention Point Philadelphia where he is a Board Member and former Board Chair. He is a Co-Director and volunteer physician at United Community Clinic at First African Presbyterian Church in West Philadelphia.

Sara Jane Ward, PhD is an Associate Professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, where she oversees the Ward Lab within the Center for Substance Abuse Research.

The Ward Lab studies the role of cannabinoid, serotonin, and opioid receptor systems in pain and substance use disorders. Specifically, the team explores the therapeutic potential of cannabinoid-based compounds for neuropathic pain and addiction. Notably, Dr. Ward's lab was the first to demonstrate that cannabidiol (CBD), a plant-based cannabinoid, effectively prevents neuropathic pain and that combining CBD with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) enhances this effect. Utilizing behavioral, molecular, and genetic approaches, their research further examines cannabinoid-opioid interactions to reduce pain and inflammation. The team’s groundbreaking findings have led to clinical trials with hemp-derived CBD for pain relief and are contributing to the development of future treatments for brain injuries and addiction.

Dr. Jahan Marcu has more than 15 years of experience in research, policy, and operations. He is also among a select group of professionals globally that has earned a PhD focused on the endocannabinoid system (with research on the structure and function of cannabinoid receptors, molecular pharmacology of the endocannabinoid system).

He has been a passionate advocate focused on consumer safety. Furthermore, his efforts include the development of international certification and training programs, co-authoring American Herbal Pharmacopeia’s Cannabis Monograph. He is credited for assisting in the creation of the first nationally adopted standards for the cannabis and hemp industry as the laboratory committee chairman of the cannabis committee for the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA). His dedication to consumer safety is further evident in his work to co-develop a biotech application to predict drug-drug interactions between cannabis and commonly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.

Additionally, Dr. Marcu co-authored one of the first product safety studies on CBD products, provides advising services to regulatory offices in the United States, and is a court-qualified expert witness on cannabis and cannabinoids.

Dr. Marcu’s work has been instrumental in facilitating and supporting fact-based, scientific approaches vital to industry and patients. This has included research focused on solving the structure and function of cannabinoid receptors, the anti-cancer properties of cannabis compounds, as well as method development and validation for analyzing complex formulations.

Dr. Marcu has published both basic and clinical research. He is the founding Editor-In-Chief of the American Journal of Endocannabinoid Medicine. He is also founder and past-chair of the Cannabis Chemistry Sub-division of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest and oldest professional scientific society.

Further illustrating the recognition earned through his efforts, he has been asked to serve on multiple expert government advisory and trade association committees, as well as scientific organizations including ASTM (D37 Subcommittee chair), ACS Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision (CANN), and IACM (past BOD). R

Dr. Marcu has received numerous awards including the Mahmoud Elsohly award for excellence in cannabis chemistry and the Billy Martin research achievement award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society for his work on THC and CBD synergy in aggressive brain cancers. His work has been published and covered in publications such as Rolling Stone, Science, Nature, JAMA, the Washington Post, CNN, and many other media outlets.

Maria is a clinical pharmacy specialist in Palliative Care at Abington Hospital Jefferson Health, a 660 bed community teaching hospital outside of Philadelphia.

Maria graduated from Temple with a BS in Pharmacy and holds a PharmD from USciences.

A Certified Pain Educator (CPE) and board certified in pharmacotherapy (BCPS), Maria received the Joe E. Smith Award from the PA Society of Health System Pharmacy in 2017, the states’ recognition for excellence in clinical practice. She was recognized with a Patient Safety Award at Abington Jefferson Health for her work to develop safe opioid prescribing practices.

Myungsun (Sunny) Ro is a research scientist on the Data Science and Research team at the Patient Safety Authority (PSA). She is responsible for analyzing and synthesizing data from various sources to identify opportunities to improve patient safety. She is also responsible for writing scientific articles for publication in the PSA’s peer-reviewed journal, Patient Safety.

Ro is passionate about medication safety, with a focus on understanding how medication events occur and developing strategies to prevent them. She has authored numerous publications and co-authored a chapter in Principles and Practice of Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety. She also authored two educational modules for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Pharmacy Competency Assessment Center (PCAC): Medication Safety Basics and Improving Medication Safety.

Ro earned a bachelor’s degree in behavioral biology from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s in medical sciences from Boston University, and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Temple University School of Pharmacy. After completing her pharmacy practice residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, she trained at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation for additional fellowship studies in medication and patient safety.

Andrew M. Peterson Pharm.D., PhD, is the John Wyeth Dean Emeritus at Saint Joseph's University. He is also professor of pharmacy and previously served as Dean of the Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy and executive director of the Substance Use Disorders Institute (SUDI).

Before joining USciences in 1996, Peterson was an assistant director of pharmacy and clinical services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and was an Associate Director of pharmacy, drug information, and clinical services at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Highly regarded in the fields of pharmacy management and health policy, Peterson has more than 30 years research experience in medication compliance, health outcomes research, health and drug use policy, and substance use disorders.

His accomplishments are wide ranging: he has produced a large body of research and scholarly work, created innovative programming, and secured significant grant dollars.

Peterson speaks at conferences around the world on issues related to pharmacy and health policy and is known for his commitment to mentoring others and fostering success; recognitions include several awards for excellence in teaching and for learning innovation.

As executive director of SUDI, he led the development of the University’s Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) approved medical cannabis training program for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and physician assistants to become recommenders or prescribers in the commonwealth.

A health policy researcher, he oversaw two PhD students’ dissertation work examining the impact of medical marijuana laws on opioid-related deaths and Hispanic high-schooler use of cannabis, as well as the outcomes of patients using high and low THC content cannabis. He also is working on projects to educate pharmacists about SBIRT (screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment), naloxone dispensing and administration, and proper opioid use. 

He is co-author of an authoritative text for nurse practitioners and physician assistants entitled, Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics: A Practical Approach, 5th edition, published in 2021; co-editor of the book Leadership and Management in Pharmacy Practice, and a contributor to numerous peer-reviewed publications. His journal reviews include the Journal of the American Medical Association, Value in Health, American Journal of Health System Pharmacy, and the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association.

Active in the academic and research communities, Peterson has served on the boards of many organizations and is engaged in several professional organizations including the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Public Health Association, and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. He is also a member of Phi Beta Lambda Business Honor Society and the Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society.

Peterson earned his B.S. in Pharmacy from Rutgers University, his Pharm.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University, and his PhD in Health Policy at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He also completed an advanced residency in hospital pharmacy administration at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and a residency in hospital pharmacy practice from Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.

Ashley currently serves as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Mental Health at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA, where she provides treatment to patients with both behavioral health and substance use disorders in the outpatient setting.

Ashley’s clinical interests include treatment-resistant schizophrenia and opioid use disorder. Her research experiences include integration of behavioral health into primary care settings, and is currently investigating outcomes related to reduced agranulocytosis monitoring for clozapine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ashley also serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students and residents, an author and peer reviewer for the psychiatric pharmacy journal Mental Health Clinician, the New Practitioner Mentor for the Jefferson College of Pharmacy chapter of APhA-ASP, and a member of the New Practitioner Committee for the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists.

She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Product Development from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 2014, prior to attending pharmacy school at Jefferson College of Pharmacy. After graduating in 2018, she completed her PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA and PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in Piscataway, NJ.