Cannabis and Sexual Health

Wendy Askew, MD

Dr. Wendy Askew is a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist in private practice in San Antonio, Texas. She has also board-certified in Functional and Regenerative Medicine. She serves as Medical Director for Foundation for an Informed Texas.

She is on a mission to help patients achieve real health and wellness throughout their lives through the integration of holistic, regenerative, and conventional medicine therapies. Having personally experienced the healing effects of cannabis medicine on her own autoimmune disease has deepened her conviction that patients deserve broad access to this healing plant.

Dr. Askew is a proud veteran of the USAF where she served on Active Duty for over eleven years. During her nearly twenty-year career in medicine she has served on various hospital committees, trained residents in academic medicine programs, participated in medical missions, and built a thriving private practice. Dr. Askew hosts a vlog entitled The Whole Truth and is a contributing medical expert for many local and national publications.

She is married to Sam Sitterle, and has two beautiful daughters, Hannah and Sophie, and a handful of rescue pets. When she isn’t working, she enjoys exercise, travel, meditation, crime podcasts and personal & professional growth.

Nishi Whiteley

Nishi Whiteley (pronounced Nee-sha), is the COO of CReDO Science, LLC, a biopharma IP holding company dedicated to commercializing patented products generated from CReDO’s investigation of the cannabis plant and the endocannabinoid system (ECS). She is also the VP of Business Development at Breeder’s Best, a cannabis IP genetics company, a cannabis educator, speaker and author. She was a contributing science writer at ProjectCBD.org and a member of the executive team at the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute. After seeing the relief cannabis provided her mother at the end of her battle with lung cancer, Whiteley was inspired to share what she learned in her book Chronic Relief: A Guide to Cannabis for the Terminally and Chronically Ill, so others would benefit from her mother’s experience. Whiteley curates the educational cannabis website www.MyChronicRelief.com with the aim of helping the sick and suffering, their caregivers, clinicians, and legislators understand the merits of cannabis as a safe and efficacious medicine, bringing science and reason to the forefront of our conversation about cannabis. Whiteley grew up on a farm outside of Pflugerville, Texas. She teaches yoga and enjoys gardening, hiking and cooking. Nishi is a Founding Director for our organization.

Mark Worster, RN-BSN, AFA, MCST

Entrepreneur, Leader, Fitness Guru, Business/Life Coach, Healthcare Professional – Mark brings a passion and joy to everything he does. From Chairman of the Board of a $20mm health services agency to Certified Yoga Instructor to Keynote Speaker Mark has accumulated an impressive array of diverse experiences. Known for his charismatic, high energy approach to leadership, Mark has led many groups to successful completion of their missions.

Mark attended Regis College School of Nursing graduating with his ASN in 2014 and BSN in 2018 while continuing to run his last company, which he twice brought to the INC 500 list of fastest growing companies. Upon completion of the sale of that company Mark then turned to Cannabis Nursing, recognizing it as a unique opportunity to provide healing through the use of this versatile plant. Expected to graduate in 2021 from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Master's in Medical Cannabis Science & Therapeutics. Mark is excited to be a part of the first class of 150 people to graduate with a Master's Degree in Cannabis Science in the world. 

Viridiana Edwards

Medical Cannabis Scholar, Advocate and Entrepreneur

Viridiana is a born and raised El Paso Texas native. At the age of 17 she joined the U.S. Army and left for South Carolina for basic training. A few years later in 2009, she received orders to deploy to Kandahar, Afghanistan. In June of 2015, Viridiana received a medical retirement from the U.S. Army after 10 years of service due to injuries that were sustained while serving in Afghanistan from 2009-2010.  

Viridiana sought treatment for her injuries with Department of Veterans Affairs. Unfortunately, she was prescribed pharmaceutical medications that ended up harming her instead of helping her. Her curiosity led her to find more veterans that were also being harmed by treatment. As a result, she developed a national study on why U.S. veterans were electing to treat their maladies with cannabis in lieu of, or in conjunction with pharmaceutical medication. In 2019 her thesis study titled “The Battle Off the Battlefield: Exploring Medical Cannabis Use Among US Veterans Looking for Relief”, was published with The University of Texas at El Paso as part of her M.A. in Sociology. That same year Viridiana was accepted into the first class, in the nation’s first, Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics with the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She expects to graduate in May 2021.  

Given Texas’ cannabis laws, Edwards was curious why over 70% of her thesis study responses came from Texas veterans. On August 17, 2020, along with Foundation for an Informed Texas, Edwards designed and launched a Texas wide study on medical cannabis use which received over 3,000 responses from veterans, civilians, and individuals who left Texas for another state which has a less restrictive medical cannabis program. This data will be shared with Texas legislators for the 2021 Texas 87th Legislative Session in support of the bills which are requesting an expansion to the Texas Compassionate Use Program. Because of her study, Edwards was contacted by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy to join their ranks as a non-resident scholar for Drug Policy.  

In November 2019 she founded CannaVi Hemp, a CBD Hemp product line with personally formulated products. Viridiana also sits on various boards including Foundation for an Informed Texas, Texas NORML, and Veterans Action Council.