In this webinar, Maria will be facilitating an interdisciplinary panel on the topic of cannabis use and how best to support pharmacists in caring for clients who use cannabis. Building on the work led by Drs. Laura Murphy and Beth Sproule, the panel will discuss valuable tools including the CFP-funded Cannabis Care Guide for Pharmacists and continuing professional development opportunities to facilitate pharmacist confidence, competence and high-quality patient care in this domain.

Maria Zhang (Facilitator)

Maria Zhang is an Advanced Practice Clinical Leader (Pharmacy) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and an Adjunct Lecturer at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto.

Maria completed her graduate work at CAMH through the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies at U of T. The focus of her research and her teaching is mental health and illness, with a focus on substance use. She is also interested in knowledge translation and supporting the continuing professional development of health care practitioners.

Karen Ng (Panelist)

Karen Ng is the clinical pharmacist within the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI) Hub at Women’s College Hospital and leads several clinics (Pharmacists Outreach program, Cannabis education/workshop and Opioid Prescribing Clinic.)  She provides pain management consultations to patients and mentorship to physicians with a focus on opioid stewardship.

She is the co-chair of the TAPMI Opioid Stewardship Committee.  She precepts pharmacy students and residents, is the co-chair for the University of Toronto Interfaculty Pain Curriculum for (UTCSP) U of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain.  She presents provincially and nationally on safe opioids and cannabis practices.   Karen completed her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and her Doctor of Pharmacy at University of Toronto and a pharmacy residency at the Ottawa Hospital.

Avery Loi (Panelist)

Avery Loi is a pharmacist at University Health Network (UHN) working on at Toronto General Hospital on the Internal Medicine units. Avery completed his hospital pharmacy residency at UHN, and his MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences at U of T which focused on helping pharmacists assess and care for patients using cannabis. 

Sandra Gerges (Panelist)

Sandra Gerges is the Program Coordinator and Professor for the Pharmacy Technician Program at Humber Polytechnic. She currently practices as a Clinical Pharmacist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and has held previous roles in both hospital and community pharmacy settings.

Sandra is part of an interdisciplinary research team involved in the NSERC-funded Pharmacists As Cannabis Educators (PACE) initiative, which explores the experiences and interactions between cannabis consumers and pharmacists. The project aims to better understand how pharmacists can support informed cannabis use through education and patient-centered care.