Volunteer Opportunities

From outlining plans for complete documentation of the subdivision’s activities, to helping its leadership negotiate the offices of ACS Staff, this committee uses its collective ACS experience in assistance of CANN’s goals of attaining ACS Divisional status. CANN has shown itself to be a diverse, young, and dynamic group the ACS should be proud to have as part of its governance. The unique nature of all cannabis science & business deserves to be recognized by chemists everywhere as an important contribution to the chemistry enterprise. The Senior Advisory Committee supports this effort and these young chemists who form the core of the CANN subdivision.
Russ Phifer
ACS Fellow, 2010

Russ Phifer has held numerous ACS positions over the past 40 years, including Chairmanships of the ACS Committee on Chemical Safety (CCS), the Division of Chemical Health & Safety (CHAS), and the ACS Task Force on RCRA. As Chair of CCS, he wrote the initial Administrative Manual for the committee. He is a current member of the ACS Division Activities Committee, serving as Vice Chair of the Governance subcommittee. He is Executive Director of the National Registry of Chemists, administering various professional certifications, including the first national program for Cannabis Chemists. He has operated his own successful EH&S firm for over 30 years. Russ was elected an ACS Fellow in 2010 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from CHAS in 2023.

Harry Elston, PhD
ACS Fellow, 2015

Dr. Harry Elston is a chemical safety professional and former editor of the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety.  He is the owner of Midwest Chemical Safety, LLC and consults in chemical and occupational safety in both academia and industry. Past ACS activity include sub-committee leadership in the Committee on Chemical Safety and membership in Committee on Environmental Improvement. He is active in both the Division of Chemical Health and Safety, Division of Small Chemical Business and in the Decatur-Springfield Local Section.  Harry was elected as an ACS Fellow in 2015.

John Palmer
John Palmer has helped with various volunteer efforts at the ACS for well over 40 years, including Chairmanship (2 times) of the ACS Division of Chemical Health & Safety (CHAS) including the 1st full year CANN became active as our subdivision.  He has also been a ‘Local Section Chair’ and Councilor for the San Diego Section and has served on National ACS Committees such as the Women Chemist Committee (WCC) for over 10 years and the Committee for Technician Affairs (CTA) for 6 years. His “day job” before he retired was the Director of Health and Safety for the Department of Chemistry at UC San Diego and he and his wife Brenda (Biosafety) still consult on matters of laboratory health and safety for various universities and colleges as well as for NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Research Center.