Foundation leadership
Dr. Lakisha Jenkins-Samuels
Founder and President
Dr. Lakisha Jenkins-Samuels leads Kiona Foundation's research direction and serves as Principal Investigator for KF-ECS-2025. She is a Traditional Naturopath and Clinical Herbalist with more than two decades in botanical medicine, systems-based health, and health equity.
Leadership
She leads the work.
Dr. Lakisha founded Kiona Foundation in 2003. Today she directs its research and charitable work.
Her work begins in pharmacognosy, the study of medicines derived from natural sources. It moves through novel botanical drug discovery, the FDA Botanical Drug Development pathway, and research into the endogenous cannabinoid system.
She holds a Ph.D. and the RH (AHG) credential. Her professional work has spanned botanical medicine, systems-based health, research governance, and health equity for more than two decades.
- Foundation
- Founder and President, Kiona Foundation Inc.
- Research
- Principal Investigator, KF-ECS-2025.
- Credentials
- Ph.D., RH (AHG).
- Practice
- Traditional Naturopath and Clinical Herbalist.
- Focus
- Pharmacognosy, botanical drug discovery, endogenous cannabinoid system research, and health equity.
Principal Investigator
KF-ECS-2025
The Foundation's research protocol examines endogenous cannabinoid system deficiency across general, clinical, and medically authorized adult and pediatric populations.
The protocol received approval in September 2024. The remaining structural step before the next submission is independent IRB reconstitution. The Foundation is not announcing current approval, enrollment, recruitment, intervention, participant availability, or results.
The Foundation's story explains the scope of its mission.
Kiona Foundation serves people and families affected by cancer across the lifespan.