ElSohly Award Winners

Ezra Pryor has been in the cannabis industry for the past 6 years since starting EZ Chem Consultancy in 2013. He is Heidolph North America’s Applied Markets Specialist. He is a founding member of the American Chemical Society’s Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision and serves in the ASTM International’s Committee D37 on Cannabis.

Julia began her career in the cannabis industry in 2015 at Gobi Labs, one of the first cannabis testing facilities to open in Colorado. She then transitioned to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Marijuana Reference Laboratory as the Quality Assurance Officer, where she is currently in her role as Lead Scientist. Julia is also the Chair of the Cannabis Chemistry Subdivision of the American Chemical Society, the Co-Chair of the AOAC CASP Microbial Contaminants Working Group, and serves on the Colorado Marijuana Science and Policy Work Group.

Stephen Goldman is an analytical chemist with extensive industrial and academic laboratory experience. He brings to PhytaTechSM expertise in GC, HPLC and mass spectrometry, chemical and biochemical engineering as well as project and business management. Prior to joining PhytaTechSM, Stephen served as an analytical chemist at the CLIA and CAP certified Forensic Laboratories, overseeing toxicology testing. Earlier, he was a scientist-chemist for Novartis (Sandoz), Kemin Industries, Genentech and served as a contract chemist. In that capacity, Stephen was involved in research into biocatalyst production and new chemistry products, neutraceuticals, antibody conjugate linkers, technical services, quality control, analytical method development and validation. Before embarking on a career in the private sector, he was a research assistant in academic laboratories at the University of Kansas and the University of Iowa. There, he engaged in research into the intracellular trafficking, cellular localization and stability of small molecules as well as the purification and quantification of heparin oligosaccharides. Stephen has published a number of research papers in the fields of biological and analytical chemistry. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Chemical Society.

Cannabis breeder and plant scientist specializing in Horticultural Production doing studies at the University of Minnesota. A life long plant enthusiast trained in traditional North American, Lakota Sioux and Ayurvedic herbal medicine. Herbal medicine utilizes the secondary metabolisms of plants to foster good health. These constituents often amount to terpenes, tannins and specialized secretions, which are produced in most plants as part of a natural process to protect growth in midst of adverse conditions (weather, pests) or promote the next phase of growth (seeding, pollination). Understanding what internal and external mechanisms that drive these processes from seed to flower, is paramount in successful horticultural production.