Steph Sherer is the foremost international leader and expert on medical cannabis patient advocacy. Sherer is the founder and President of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists, and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. Her direct experience with the medical benefits of cannabis and her political organizing background led Sherer to form ASA in 2002 with the purpose of building a strong movement to protect patients and their rights. Sherer is a powerful advocate, a skilled spokesperson, and an energetic initiator of campaigns. For over two decades, Sherer's leadership has guided efforts with lawmakers across the country, to adopt and improve medical cannabis legislation and brought patients’ voices to Capitol Hill. Sherer has trained over 100,000 individuals across the country on civic engagement, building a powerful grassroots movement for medical cannabis. Alongside the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and the American Herbal Pharmacia, Sherer created the first medical cannabis standards in the areas of Distribution, Cultivation, Analytics, Manufacturing, Packaging, and Labeling. Sherer’s work with ASA has moved public opinion and policy forward by incorporating strategies across many disciplines and bringing together patient advocates, policy experts, public health experts, attorneys, lobbyists, scientists, industry associations, and medical professionals to create the campaigns, projects, and programs that break down political, social, academic, and legal barriers across the US.