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‘A real-world experiment, happening right before our eyes’
Geisinger to use industry funding for medical marijuana research
In 2022, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine was certified as a Medical Marijuana Academic Clinical Research Center (ACRC) by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as part of the state’s medical marijuana research program. Geisinger has partnered with Ascend Wellness Holdings and received $30 million to fund medical marijuana research over the next 10 years.
Q&A with Vanessa Troiani, associate professor, Geisinger’s Department of Developmental Medicine, and director of Geisinger’s Center for Substance Use Research and Education.
What topics will Geisinger’s ACRC focus on?
Geisinger’s ACRC will focus on advancing our understanding of medical marijuana with respect to patient care in areas that are already strengths of our institution. The first area of focus is genetic and phenotypic research that uses electronic health record and other data to establish the effectiveness and safety of medical marijuana and to understand which patients may benefit or have potential for harm from marijuana use. The second is education, including developing materials for patients, training our medical students to have difficult conversations about marijuana and improving communication between Geisinger clinicians and their patients about marijuana use.
How could this research benefit patients and the research community?
I see great potential for both short- and long-term benefits to Geisinger patients and the research community. For example, a project we worked on with two students at the School of Medicine demonstrated that there is confusion surrounding marijuana terminology. Some patients may use the term ‘CBD oil’ to describe a product that contains Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, that is associated with mind altering effects. Other patients may use the same term to describe a product that contains little to no THC. Knowing these differences is important, and I’m hopeful that through the work of Geisinger’s ACRC, our patients will benefit from increased awareness of the marijuana industry and terminology that will ultimately lead to more informed decision making.
For the broader research community, we aim to be at the forefront of knowledge generation by partnering with patients using medical marijuana to gain valuable insights on efficacy and safety and to develop best practices.
How do you see this field of research growing in the coming years?
This field is rapidly changing. While Pennsylvania is relatively late to developing a medical marijuana program, we are the first state to fund medical marijuana research through Academic Clinical Research Centers. Thanks to the innovation of Pennsylvania’s program, Geisinger and other ACRCs will dramatically improve our understanding of the potential therapeutic efficacy of marijuana.
