Philadelphia’s Jefferson University gets another $2 million for cannabis research

Australian philanthropist Barry Lambert and his wife Joy made a $3 million gift three years ago to establish the Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

This week, the Lamberts donated an additional $2 million to Jefferson to develop medical uses for industrial hemp and its derivatives. The contribution will create the Lambert Innovation Fund within Jefferson’s Innovation Pillar.

According to the university, the Innovation Pillar acts like a startup, encouraging the development of entrepreneurial ideas with the goal of converting them into commercial products and services.

Lambert, 73, founded Count Financial, Australia’s largest network of accounting-based advisory firms, which he sold in 2011 for more than $300 million. He now serves as CEO of Ecofibre, which grows thousands of acres of hemp in Kentucky.

The company also produces a line of CBD nutraceuticals under the Ananda brand, and is seeking to become one of the first producers of high-performance hemp-based textiles under its Hemp Black subsidiary, which has a partnership with Jefferson’s East Falls campus.

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