Former Temple Health CEO Larry Kaiser joins board of Canadian weed company

Larry Kaiser, who led the Temple University Health System for nearly a decade, has joined the board of directors of medical marijuana company FSD Pharma Inc.

Kaiser was president and CEO of Temple Health until he stepped down Dec. 31. He also served as dean of Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine and was senior executive vice president for health sciences at Temple University.

FSD Pharma is a Canadian-listed medical marijuana company with a subsidiary, FV Pharma, that has plans to grow nearly one million pounds of cannabis a year for the global market. FSD Pharma also will manufacture synthetic cannabinoids to market as licensed drugs for the U.S. market. Though FSD’s corporate headquarters are in Ontario, the executive team operates out of Philadelphia.

Kaiser is married to Lindy Snider, a prominent cannabis advocate, entrepreneur, and investor.

Since July, Kaiser has served as chairman of the FSD Pharma’s scientific advisory board. He is managing director with the Healthcare Industry Group at Alvarez and Marsal, a corporate restructuring consultancy.

“Dr. Kaiser has already contributed immensely as chairman of our world-class scientific advisory board, where his input has been very meaningful in shaping our biosciences strategy to focus on assembling synthetic compounds that target the CB2 receptors of the endocannabinoid system of the human body,” said Raza Bokhari, CEO of FSD Pharma. “As a director, we are relying on his leadership and sage counsel as we continue to double down on our biosciences effort to eventually bring to market prescription-based drugs by conducting rigorous FDA-approved trials.”

In past interviews, Bokhari said that until federal law changes, FSD Pharma has no interest in marketing plant-based cannabis in the U.S.