Mara Gordon

Mara Gordon is a cannabis advocate, entrepreneur, and researcher known for her scientific approach to plant-based medicine and medical cannabis. Gordon leveraged her background as a process engineer for Fortune 500 companies, where she developed intelligent software, to create cannabis formulations and therapeutic dosing regimens for patients seeking alternative medicine. Her entry into the cannabis industry was driven by personal health challenges, including a back injury and bacterial meningitis that resulted in severe spinal damage and reliance on a fentanyl patch and multiple pharmaceuticals. Seeking alternatives, Gordon turned to cannabis and identified a lack of standardized, reliable dosing, which became the focus of her career.

Gordon co-founded Aunt Zelda's, a company that began as a collective providing bespoke cannabis formulations to patients. As regulations evolved in California, she standardized therapeutic oil blends, making them commercially available under the Aunt Zelda's brand. Gordon later launched Calla Spring Wellness, a telemedicine platform and clinical service that assists physicians and nurses in incorporating cannabinoid-based medicines into treatment plans. She also founded Octopi Wellness, a software platform that enables healthcare professionals to make cannabis-based treatment recommendations supported by scientific data.

Gordon co-founded Zelira Therapeutics in Australia to advance medicinal cannabis research, collaborating with researchers and clinicians on pre-clinical studies for cancer and diabetes-related cognitive decline, as well as clinical trials for autism, chronic pain, and insomnia. A proponent of whole-plant medicine and the entourage effect, Gordon advocates for rigorous, evidence-based standards in the cannabis industry.

Her work in medical cannabis has been featured in films such as "The Medicine in Marijuana," and the documentaries "Mary Janes: The Women of Weed" and "Weed the People." Gordon has appeared on the TEDx stage, delivering the talk "Cannabis: Separating the Science From the Hype." She shares her expertise on the therapeutic benefits of cannabis through lectures, courses, conferences, and presentations at CME-accredited medical conferences in the United States and internationally. Gordon has spoken at medical cannabis conferences in Australia, Costa Rica, Chile, the Czech Republic, Israel, and other countries, contributing to the global conversation on medicinal cannabis through her scientific methodology and personal experience.