Rebels with a cause

Radicle Science co-founders were featured in Shine Culture on June 8th, giving readers an opportunity to get to know the experts behind the CBD and Women’s Health study. Below are a few excerpts, and you can enjoy the full article here!

You’re both passionate about championing equity and diversity in health research and are challenging the status quo to create a movement that supports the democratization of wellness. As self-proclaimed “rebels with a cause,” your mission is inspiring and has the potential to support the wellbeing of future generations. Tell us more about your approach, and why it’s needed?

• Dr. Jeff Chen: In my medical career, I was always obsessed with finding ways to help my patients arrive at the right treatment for their unique body and condition. I was flabbergasted as to why something like Netflix uses thousands of data points about you to recommend entertainment while doctors may only use one data point about you (i.e. age) when deciding to give you anesthesia and perform an invasive procedure like a colonoscopy!
• Due to the enormous cost and time of traditional clinical trials, modern healthcare largely doesn’t have the data to unlock personalized, precision medicine. Which means less effective treatments, more suffering, more side effects, more money, and more time due to the trial-and-error process of finding the right solution for your unique body and condition.
• If we achieve our Radicle mission, not only can we unlock accessible, affordable, natural medicines, but we may also arrive at personalized precision usage of these products before modern healthcare arrives there.

Rae partnered with you to publish a first-of-its-kind study on cannabidiol’s potential to support women’s wellness. What’s most exciting to you about this research?

• Pelin Thorogood: Most research on the neurological effects of CBD have been conducted among men. Indeed, women have historically been—and continue to be—underrepresented as subjects in medical research. Thus, it is unclear how various supplements, including CBD, may impact women’s health and if gender-related factors may influence their effects.
• This large-scale, groundbreaking study on CBD & Women’s Health conducted in collaboration with Rae Wellness is a major step in filling this evidence gap. We are deeply grateful for Rae’s support of research, especially with respect to addressing diversity and inclusion issues in health outcome data.

Full interview can be found on Shine Culture.