Rate My Professor Jonathon Arnold

Associate Professor Jonathon Arnold is a prominent figure in cannabinoid pharmacology at the University of Sydney, serving in the Discipline of Pharmacology within the Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health. He holds the position of Deputy Academic Director of Preclinical Research at the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, where he directs the strategic planning and implementation of the preclinical research agenda. Arnold collaborates closely with clinical teams to translate preclinical discoveries into potential therapies. Since 2002, he has led the Cannabinoid Research Group, previously in the Sydney Medical School, amassing expertise in cannabis research that has shaped national and international understandings of cannabinoid effects.

Arnold's academic interests center on the pharmacology of cannabinoids, including their efficacy in preclinical models of childhood epilepsy, cancer, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as the functions of the endogenous cannabinoid system in pathology. His seminal contributions include the initial discovery that plant-derived cannabinoids counteract resistance to anticancer drugs, isolation of genes that modulate cannabinoid impacts on the brain, and Australia's first comprehensive cannabis potency analysis, establishing Australian street cannabis as among the world's strongest. With over 60 peer-reviewed publications cited more than 8,484 times per Google Scholar, key works feature 'Analysis of cannabis seizures in NSW, Australia: cannabis potency and cannabinoid profile' (PLoS ONE, 2013, 525 citations), 'The direct actions of cannabidiol and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol at GABAA receptors' (Pharmacological Research, 2017, 327 citations), 'Cannabidiol potentiates Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) behavioural effects and alters THC pharmacokinetics during acute and chronic treatment in adolescent rats' (Psychopharmacology, 2011, 266 citations), and 'Coadministered cannabidiol and clobazam: Preclinical evidence for both pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interactions' (Epilepsia, 2019, 178 citations). He has integrated cannabis research into Science and Medicine curricula at the University of Sydney and supervised eight PhD theses in the domain, underscoring his influence on education and future researchers in medicinal cannabis therapeutics.