The Endocannabinoid System in Local and Systemic Inflammation

Melanie E.M. Kelly, Ph.D., is Professor of Pharmacology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Anesthesia, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management at Dalhousie University. Professor Kelly received her B.Sc. (Hons) in Physiology and Pharmacology from Southampton University, UK, in 1981 and, in 1984, completed a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology at Southampton University. Professor Kelly's research is in molecular and translational pharmacology, with expertise in G protein coupled receptors and ocular and vascular pharmacology. During the last decade, her research has centered on the pharmacology of the endocannabinoid system. Her laboratory, together with collaborators, has published ground breaking research on the role of the endocannabinoid system in ocular disease and the therapeutic potential of cannabinoid-based drugs. Professor Kelly is actively engaged in bench to bedside research to identify novel drug targets and bring new cannabinoid-based medications to the clinic to treat human disease. She has published over 120 scientific peer-reviewed papers, reviews, book chapters, and books, and is an inventor on patents to use cannabinoid-based drugs to treat inflammatory disease and neuropathic pain. Professor Kelly's research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the National Institutes of Health, USA. Professor Kelly is also one of the founders of a Nova Scotia-based biopharmaceutical company that is developing phytocannabinoid therapies to treat human inflammation and chronic pain and she is on the Executive Board of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids (CCIC). She is a licensed National Pro-rally Codriver and enjoys running and hiking the beautiful Nova Scotia Coast.