Dr Mafer Arboleda

ANESTHESIOLOGIST, SPECIALIST IN CHRONIC PAIN AND PALLIATIVE CARE, EXPERT IN MEDICAL CANNABIS.

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Dr. Mafer Arboleda has found her mission in accompanying people to live and die in the best possible way, with medical cannabis as a great ally for the control of symptoms in different medical conditions. In addition, she aims to inform, deny and demystify cannabis, and ensure that its benefits can be used by those who need it in a responsible and safe way.

 

The loss of a very close relative, marked by the characteristics of violence along the 90’s in Colombia, led Dr. Mafer to be interested in what is experienced at the end of life. Thus, she decided to study Medicine at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, to later specialize in Anesthesiology at UNAM and the ‘Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán’ in Mexico City.

“Death taught me to live,” explains Dr. Mafer, who sees the end of life as the closing of a stage that allows us to reach another dimension. With people’s life and well-being as her main focus, she specialized in Chronic Pain Management and Palliative Care, helping people with terminal illnesses and their families in the process of dying. “Death is a normal, natural and inevitable transformation. Life is nothing more than a stage that we come to transcend ”, explains the specialist.

Years later she moved to Montreal, Canada, where she completed a clinical fellowship related to anesthesia and pain management at McGill University. At that point, in a constant determination to find tools that could help her patients to obtain better pain control and optimal symptom management associated to end-of-life care, she experienced, for the first time, the therapeutic benefits of medical cannabis treatments. “It was love at first sight, because I observed an evident improvement in the quality of life of patients and their families with this therapy,” explains Dr. Mafer.

Her passion and dedication were key to continue her studies and completing a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Medical Cannabis and Supportive Care in Cancer at the Department of Oncology, McGill University, and at Santé Cannabis, a leading specialized clinic in medical cannabis in Canada. From then on, she has participated in the development of various research protocols, and has treated hundreds of patients with medical cannabis. She has participated as international speaker and faculty in more than 50 international conferences and medical meetings, contributing to the training and education of more than 5000 health care professionals in Latin America, Canada and the UK, among other countries. She has also participated in international panels and forums dedicated to medical cannabis patients and caregivers.

“Improving people’s quality of life and well-being has always been my main focus”.

Today, Dr. Mafer lives in Mexico City, where, in addition to offering Private Medical Consultation, she serves as an International Consultant and Medical Advisor to various leading companies in the medical cannabis industry. She is also the Associate Research Director of Santé Cannabis. Recently she developed her Responsible and Safe Cannabinoid Prescription Workshop with the academic endorsement of the Medicine School of Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Algia Center for Health Education.