The Psychedelic Missouri Freedom Conference
Kansas City

Tim Jensen spent a decade working his way up at Grunt Style to become its Chief Strategy Officer and president for the charity arm of the organization. But there’s another title he’s really proud of: US Marine. Tim served from 1997 to early 2001 and then 2004-2005.

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Through the Grunt Style Foundation and the Veterans Mental Health Leadership Coalition, Tim is active in advocating to the US Congress and state legislatures for access to psychedelic medicine.

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Irfan A. Handoo earned his undergraduate degree from UMKC and his Medical Doctorate at the UMKC School of Medicine in 2005.

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Handoo completed his residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center at Wichita, where he also completed a fellowship in psychopharmacology. Dr. Handoo does have experience in residency as a sub-investigator for clinical research trials.

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Dr. Handoo is Board Certified in Psychiatry and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association.

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Dr. Handoo was the first doctor in the Kansas City Area to start IV Ketamine Treatments in 2016 and has helped administer thousands of IV ketamine treatments over the years.  

Rahul Kapur, MD, is a primary care provider specializing in family and hospital medicine. Dr. Kapur practices integrative medicine, a patient-centered approach focused on patients’ whole health – body, mind, and spirit.

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An interest in biology, the human body and personal health led Dr. Kapur into medicine. The “privilege and honor” of patients allowing him in on their life stories over the years has made Dr. Kapur realize caring for patients is more than a job he enjoys – it’s his calling.

April is a registered nurse with a Master’s in Public Health Nursing and has extensive experience in acute care and education. As a member of multiple professional organizations, including the American Cannabis Nurses Association, the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association, and the American Holistic Nurses Association, she is also Healer Certified and completed the first Medical Cannabis certificate program for healthcare professionals. 

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Today, she serves in multiple capacities including the continuation of 1:1 patient consultations, developing and facilitating  dispensary staff training, and her role teaching cannabis pharmacology at Saint Louis University. 

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April has worked to educate Missouri lawmakers on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the last few years.

Elizabeth Blanchard Hills brings a broad range of experience and maturity to her role as Clinical Director at Inspired Psychiatric Care. After earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern in 1988, she was an award-winning television medical reporter for ten years. This was followed by five years as a corporate trainer and several entrepreneurial pursuits related to health care. In 2018, she completed her MSN program with honors at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is employed as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Inspired Psychiatric Care, an outpatient psychiatric practice in Overland Park, KS.

Elizabeth serves on the board of the Kansas chapter of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, as well as the Legislative Committee of the Kansas State Nurses Association.

Daniel Harkins is an ethnobotanist and mycologist who currently operates a functional mushroom farm. Daniel served in the US Marine Corps from 2008-2016.

Since 2021, Daniel has been an active part of the movement to legalize psychedelic medicine in Missouri.

Dr. Robert ‘Bob’ Prue is formerly an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Missouri Kansas City, School of Social Work. Dr. Prue served as Chair of the Social Work Department in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Program Director for the UMKC Master of Social Work Program from 2015 to 2019.

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Prior to coming to UMKC Dr. Prue worked in community organizing in the Haskell Indian Nations University/Douglas County American Indian Community to combat sexual violence and support healthy relationships and sexual safety. Dr. Prue has extensive social work practice history with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

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Dr. Prue received a Ph.D. in Social Work from the University Of Kansas School Of Social Welfare in July 2008. Dr. Prue has looked at the effect of the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1994 on involvement with the traditional use of peyote by American Indians. Dr. Prue has also published on the topic of American Indian support for veterans. Dr. Prue has also published book chapters relating to the Native American Church, the use of peyote by American Indians, and the history of the Social Work profession with American Indians.

He serves on the Board of the Kansas City Indian Center and is a member of the Veteran’s Advocacy Committee For Mental Health at the Kansas City VA hospital.

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Dr. Prue is an Citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of Indians.

Vince Sanders is president and founder of CBD American Shaman, the nation’s largest brick and mortar CBD retailer with over 360 locations.

Vince believes in the power of science to help us better understand all that cannabis (as well as other plants and fungi) have to offer medicinally. Recently, American Shaman created a pharmaceutical division, Shaman Pharma, which works to advance access to plant medicine.

Barbara Zabawa is the founder and President of the Center for Health and Wellness Law, LLC, a law firm dedicated to improving legal access and compliance for the health and wellness industries. S

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Barbara is lead author of the book Rule the Rules on Workplace Wellness Programs, published by the American Bar Association. She is a frequent writer and speaker on health and wellness law topics, having presented for national organizations such as WELCOA, National Wellness Conference, HPLive, Healthstat University and HERO.

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Barbara is currently an assistant professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Chris Holman joined the UMKC faculty in 2005, and his primary research focus lies at the intersection of intellectual property and biotechnology. He has published numerous articles in law reviews and scientific publications such as Science, Cell and Nature Biotechnology, and has authored amicus briefs in a number of important biotechnology patent cases at the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit. In 2008 he was awarded the Daniel L Brenner Faculty Publishing Award for an influential law review article on human gene patent litigation.

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Professor Holman has taught classes in patent law, copyright law, intellectual property survey, antitrust, biotechnology and pharmaceutical law, and law science and technology. He is a faculty advisor for the law school’s Intellectual Property Emphasis Area, and helps oversee the IP clinic.