Grant Orvis, Ph.D.

Dr. Grant Orvis obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics & Reproductive Biology and performed his post-doctoral research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, respectively. In 2012 he moved home to Colorado to become involved in the industrial hemp and marijuana industries and has participated in the entire seed to sale pathway in both industries. He has worked with breeders to develop high quality genetics, created both written and in-person training programs for employees in both hemp and marijuana, and is a co-inventor on a patent that uses carbon dioxide as a post harvest decontamination step for smokable flower material.

Through his work in the industry, he has helped to develop Cannabis white paper reports, rules, and legislation on numerous topics including cultivation, processing, manufacturing, and testing. The chairs of the House and Senate Agricultural Committees appointed his as a member of the Hemp Advisory Committee, where he helped to write early hemp rules, policies, and Statutes. His experience includes working with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado Division of Water Resources, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Marijuana Enforcement Division, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Currently, he is a member of the MED Science and Policy workgroup, which is now working to incorporate a science-based approach to policy and rule making. 

Dr. Orvis has experience on tens of thousands of outdoor acres and hundreds of thousands of indoor square feet. He has developed breeding programs, cultivation and harvesting techniques, and post-harvest decontamination. He has worked with various forms of extraction (CO2, EtOH, hydrocarbon, and solventless), with product formulation, and final product manufacturing. He also worked with dispensaries where he helped to develop strategic plans for growth and provided market information to retailers. In the early stages of hemp potency testing, he helped with procedures to properly determine THC concentration and corresponding measurements of uncertainty.