Julie Sanem, PhD manages the Cannabis Research Center. She has spent the past 15+ years developing and implementing strategies to understand and reduce harms associated with substance use and is excited to help the CRC answer the most important research questions related to cannabis and health. Her research interests include substance use policy, harm reduction, and college students. Julie earned her MPH in community health education and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Traci Toomey, PhD is the Director of the Cannabis Research Center and a professor in the School of Public Health. She is a behavioral epidemiologist and an expert in substance use control policies who has served as the principal investigator or co-investigator of nearly 40 externally-funded research studies focusing on substance use. She has been a leader on a series of studies assessing and/or changing the alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco retail environments, and on studies measuring the prevalence, strength, and effects of local and state substance-use related policies. Traci is also the Director of the Alcohol Epidemiology Program (AEP) at the University of Minnesota.

Lisa Hoogheem is the Healthy & Supportive Schools Supervisor in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Center at the Minnesota Department of Education where she leads a team of professionals focused on improving the health and well-being of staff, students and caregivers using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. She has worked at the nexus of education and children’s mental health for over 20 years leading partial hospital operations, implementing school-linked mental health services, developing programs, advocating for policy change, developing collaborative partnerships, and implementing best practices.