Andrea Venezia brings 25 years of equity-focused research and policy experience to her role as executive director. Prior to joining the BCSP, she was a professor of Public Policy and Administration, and led the Education Insights Center, at California State University (CSU), Sacramento. Andrea is integrating equity-driven leadership across BCSP’s work, fostering inclusive partnerships, solidifying the BCSP’s vision and values, and strengthening community connections. She is also committed to bridging the gap between psychedelic research and society, ensuring the center’s work has meaningful impact.

Andrea’s scholarship focused on equitable access to and through postsecondary education, encompassing reforms at the high school, community college, and university levels. She co-led the conceptualization and development of the California Education Policy Fellowship Program and the CSU Student Success Network and has authored and coauthored numerous publications, including Supporting the College Dream (2015) by Corwin Press and From High School to College (2004) by Jossey-Bass. 

Michael Silver is a professor in the School of Optometry and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley, and is the director of BCSP. Research in the Silver laboratory focuses on the brain mechanisms of visual perception, attention, and learning. His team seeks to better understand how the brain actively constructs representations of the visual environment by using a combination of perceptual, brain imaging, computational modeling, and pharmacological techniques. Although Michael has been conducting pharmacological studies in humans for fifteen years, the initial studies as part of BCSP will be the first in his lab to involve psychedelic compounds. Following decades of suppression of research on the effects of psychedelic drugs in human subjects, he is thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the renaissance of psychedelic research and to conduct experiments that shine light on the mysteries of the mind and brain.

Rana Freedman leads communications at the BCSP, connecting diverse audiences with the Center’s research, public education, community programs and impact. With over 25 years of experience—including roles at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the University of California Office of the President—she has developed creative strategies that incorporate content marketing, media relations, partnerships, social media and digital storytelling. Rana is passionate about science communication, fostering curiosity and making research accessible, engaging and meaningful to the public. She is also deeply committed to sharing stories that reflect and amplify a broad range of voices, perspectives and experiences.

Kuranda Morgan is the strategy director at the BCSP, where she previously served as a Civic Science Fellow. She weaves the center’s diverse initiatives into a cohesive engine for social change, helping bridge the gap between scientific discovery and societal impact. She has a decade of experience leading impactful and inclusive programs at the nexus of research, innovation, policy, and social change. With a passion for facilitating learning and systems transformation, her work focuses on strengthening capabilities for evidence use, research translation, and knowledge exchange. At Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good, she worked closely with UK government bodies, universities, and knowledge intermediaries to improve their ability to collaborate, innovate, and evidence their work. Previously, she cultivated global research networks that championed regional leadership in rigorous, policy-relevant research. She holds an MSc in Social Policy Research from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in social welfare and American studies from UC Berkeley. In her spare time, Morgan enjoys dabbling in various creative outlets, going to gigs, playing outside, and finding awe in the mundane.

Malia Wollan is editor in chief of journalism projects at BCSP and director of the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. Her work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Public Radio, New York Magazine, Fast Company,The Associated Press,PBS’s Frontline/World, and elsewhere.

Marlena Robbins is a Doctor of Public Health candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and Program Coordinator for the Collective Continuance Fellowship (CCF). Her research examines multigenerational perspectives on psilocybin mushrooms in urban Native communities and the development of the CCF as a model for ethical engagement in psychedelic research. Drawing on implementation science, Indigenous methodologies and public health prevention theory, she studies how research design, governance and training structures can shape the future of psychedelic science. She has contributed to tribal engagement strategies for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and served on the Colorado Natural Medicine Tribal Working Group.

Maya Acharya (they/any) is the program coordinator at the BCSP, working on transformative community events. Maya is a music maker, an educator, a program manager, and a huge advocate of rest. In their previous role at Stanford University’s Queer Student Resources, Maya focused on building community wellness and resilience through a combination of direct student supervision, program development, and relationship-building across and beyond the institution. They also have experience in justice-oriented cultural work at Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts, at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and in community.

Tyrone Sgambati, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar at the BCSP where he is studying how psychedelic experiences affect parasympathetic nervous system activation and how public perceptions of psychedelics are shifting over time. Prior to joining the BCSP, Tyrone completed his PhD in social-personality psychology at UC Berkeley. His doctoral work focused  on the development of intellectual humility and the role of inaccurate social perceptions in driving political polarization.

Christina Cassen is BCSP’s first finance & operations director. She brings fifteen years of leadership experience across a variety of industries: banking and financial services, alternative medicines, media, and education. She holds a BS in business management from Babson College. Christina enjoys yoga, scuba diving, and snowboarding, depending on the season. She is an avid traveler, and has visited more than sixty countries. 

Patrick Gutteridge is the senior director of development for the Berkeley Brain Initiative, which includes BCSP, within the Principal Gifts and Strategic Initiatives Berkeley Development team. Previously, Patrick co-led interdisciplinary life sciences fundraising efforts at Stanford. After serving as chief of staff to the principal and vice chancellor of McGill University, he created the university’s successful program of engagement and philanthropy across the Western United States and Western Canada.

Charley Locke is a freelance writer. She regularly contributes articles to the BCSP highlighting the work of its faculty and community. Charley also regularly writes for publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her website is charleylocke.com.

Natalie Nicolson supports communications at the Center, helping connect emerging psychedelic science with policy and the public. She has 15 years of experience in media and publishing, including senior marketing and communications roles at Chronicle Books and Lonely Planet.

Reagan Calaguas (he/him) is a director of photography and editor majoring in Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. As BCSP’s social media intern this summer, he is excited to create engaging content to bring awareness to psychedelic research, blending humor and professionalism.

Jane C. Hu is head writer of The Microdose, a newsletter about the science, business, culture and public policy surrounding psychedelics. She is an award-winning journalist whose work has been featured in publications like Undark Magazine, Slate, The Guardian, High Country News, WIRED, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Science. Before becoming a journalist, she earned a PhD in psychology from UC Berkeley.

Robin writes and produces feature articles, podcasts, and documentaries on advances in science, health, medicine, and technology. As a Ferriss – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellow, she produced a three-part podcast series, Psychedelics and the Texas Trip, with Texas Public Radio. Her work has appeared in news outlets, broadcast on NPR stations, shown at international film festivals, on PBS, and as part of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s “Science on Screen.”

Shayla Love is a science journalist based in Brooklyn who writes about psychology, history, social science, wellness trends, and the shifting ways we understand our bodies and minds. She also covers research on psychedelics for the treatment of mental illness, and the sociocultural impacts of the psychedelic renaissance. Shayla has a master’s degree from Columbia University, and was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic, Vice, Psyche, and The Guardian. Her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, Scientific American, Wired, Esquire, The New York Times, Nautilus, and more.

Anna Marie Yanny is a science journalist writing for The Microdose. Before her writing career, Anna Marie worked as a neuroscience researcher, mapping cell types across the brain. When she’s not covering psychedelic updates, Anna Marie works as a radio reporter. Her work has appeared on NPR, KQED, Wisconsin Public Radio, KUOW and KNKX.

Graham Hacia is a fact-checker for BCSP’s website, newsletter, podcast and Ferriss fellowship program. Beyond that role, he’s a freelance journalist, who has reported on articles for (among others) Wired, MIT Technology Review, Mother Jones, Alta, and Billboard magazines. He’s also worked on podcasts by The New York Times, WNYC, PRX, and 99% Invisible, where he’s been a fact-checker since 2018.

Brian Anderson MD, MSc, is an assistant clinical professor and psychiatrist at UCSF/Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He has conducted observational and clinical research on the effects of psychedelics and other drugs for over a decade, including a 2018 open-label pilot study of psilocybin-assisted group therapy for demoralization in older men who are long-term AIDS survivors. His research interests focus on the development of novel treatments for psychological distress in patients with serious medical illness. He is a clinical investigator at BCSP and is excited about the opportunity for interdisciplinary research that considers theological and religious scholarship in interpreting psychedelic experiences.

Tyler Toueg (he/him) is a neuroscience PhD student at UC Berkeley, co-advised by Bill Jagust and Michael Silver. In the Psychedelic Longitudinal Aging Study In Cognitively Healthy Older Adults (PLASTICITY), he is investigating the impact of a single dose of psilocybin on structural plasticity and psychological well-being.

Jen Holmberg is a neuroscience PhD student co-advised by Michael Silver and Jack Gallant at UC Berkeley. Their research uses fMRI, naturalistic movies and computational modeling to investigate the effects of psilocybin on visual and semantic brain representations during the acute drug experience.

Alia Lilienstein, MD, MPH, is a board-certified Family Medicine physician with over a decade of experience in psychedelic research and therapy. She is a Research Physician at BCSP and previously served as clinical lead for Lykos Therapeutics’s pivotal Phase 3 trials and 2024 FDA New Drug Application for MDMA-assisted therapy. She holds an MPH from UC Berkeley, an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and a certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and Research from CIIS.

Michael Zadeh is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the BCSP with several years experience managing clinical trials. He completed his undergraduate education at UC Davis with a double major in Forensic Chemistry and English.

Erin Vinson is a Clinical Research Coordinator at the BCSP, primarily supporting the center’s work in the Psychedelic Longitudinal Aging Study In Cognitively Healthy Older Adults (PLASTICITY) study, which investigates the impact of a single dose of psilocybin on structural plasticity and psychological well-being. She recently completed her undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, graduating with a double major in Neuroscience and Sociology.

David Egert, PhD, is a researcher in Michael Silver’s laboratory at UC Berkeley. He earned his PhD in neuroscience from the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint bioengineering program, as well as his BSEE from UC Berkeley in electrical engineering/computer science. He also devoted 25 years to public education teaching community college. He has a long-standing interest in exploring psychedelics as tools to deepen our understanding of neuroscience, as well as their potential for healing and personal exploration. As part of the BCSP, he uses neuroimaging and other techniques to investigate the mechanisms of psychedelics and to explore the neural correlates associated with their clinical use.

Eric Weaver, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist and Research Physician at BCSP. Since 2019, his work in psychedelic research has included studies at Johns Hopkins and UCSF, including PSIL201, a multisite Phase 2 trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for major depressive disorder. His clinical interests include palliative and integrative psychiatry, ketamine-assisted treatment, and neurostimulation.

Kristi Panik is a Staff Psychiatrist at the University of California, Berkeley, Student Health Services. She was a site physician for the MAPS-sponsored MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD Phase 3 clinical studies and has served as an individual clinical mentor for the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR) certification program. She has also been a longtime member of the Board of Directors of La Cheim, a non-profit organization that provides special education, mental health, and residential services to at-risk children, youth, and adults. She is a psychiatrist with an interest in a holistic approach to mental and physical well-being and in educating about the limitations of psychiatric medications. She is co-author of the LSD chapter in the 2021 Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens.

Catriona Miller is a clinical research program manager at both UCSF and UC Berkeley, with over 10 years of experience conducting neuroscience research and managing and coordinating neuroscience groups. She has spent the last decade working primarily on clinical trials investigating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds. Her experience is in translational neuroscience research, with an interest in investigating the neural circuitry underlying psychiatric illnesses, such as addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. At BCSP, she helps with supervision of study coordination, site and infrastructure set-up, regulatory and compliance oversight, study design and implementation, and maintaining protocol adherence.

Rachel is a research associate with both the BCSP, where she supports the PLASTICITY study, and the Jagust Lab. She has several years of experience in clinical and cognitive neuroscience research, primarily working on studies involving cognition, aging, decision-making, and neuroimaging.

Aubrey Beck is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and a study monitor with the Silver Lab. She graduated from the University of California, San Francisco with her Master of Science in Nursing. Aubrey has worked in direct patient care and clinical research at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health System.

Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries, and has worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field. She is one of the founders of the Women’s Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists whose work explores these states. She is Professor Emerita in the School of Science, Allied Health, and Nursing at Holy Names University. For the last 50 years, she has been a part of the Hog Farm, a well-known communal family based in Berkeley and in Laytonville, California.

Wendy Marussich RN, MSN, PMHNP, PhD, is an evolutionary ecologist turned oncology nurse, now psychiatric nurse practitioner. She is a PMHNP at Mindful Health Solutions where she uses interventional treatments in addition to psychopharmacology and therapy. She trained in psychedelics and therapy through CIIS CPTR, Hakomi, and PRATI, and completed a psycho-oncology fellowship at MSKCC. She also co-founded the Organization of Psychedelic and Entheogenic Nurses (www.OPENurses.org). At BCSP, she is a nurse practitioner and study monitor with the Silver Lab.

Julie Megler, MSN, NP-BC-I earned my Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami and a post-master’s certificate in psychiatry from UCSF. My early ER work revealed gaps between medical and psychiatric care and inspired my integrated approach to practice. As a psychiatric–mental health nurse practitioner, I blend allopathic treatment with holistic modalities, including yoga and Ayurveda, supported by advanced training in Somatic Experiencing, Ketamine-Assisted Therapy, MDMA-Assisted Therapy, and a fellowship with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute. For more than a decade, I’ve also been an advocate and educator in psychedelic medicine—speaking at conferences, teaching in programs such as Polaris Insight Center, CIIS, and UC Berkeley’s Center for the Science of Psychedelics. In addition, I’ve supported the advancement of diverse female voices in the psychedelic field through program development sponsored by The Riverstyx Foundation and the Femtheogen Collaborative. Find me online at: https://www.holisticrootspsychiatry.com/

Dawn Weinstein, MSN, NP is a board-certified nurse practitioner in the Department of Neurology at UCSF with fourteen years’ experience serving as a study clinician on clinical trials. She has a broad background in clinical research investigating pharmacologic interventions for treating psychiatric and substance use disorders. Most recently, she has provided clinical screening and medical care to research participants for clinical trials involving psychedelic medication and neuroimaging at UCSF and at UC Berkeley. She has worked as a nurse practitioner in clinical and research settings since 2000 in both the U.S. and Europe and has contributed to several peer-reviewed publications in that time.

Dr. Marco Aqil is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. His work sits at the intersection of computational neuroscience, mathematics, vision, and psychedelics. Dr. Aqil carried out his PhD research at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, holds degrees in Mathematics (MSc) and Theoretical Physics (BSc), led the first psychedelic fMRI study in Amsterdam, and served as chairman of the Amsterdam Psychedelic Research Association (APRA).

Daniel Bazan is a Neuroscience Ph.D. student supported by the NSF-GFRP in Michael Silver’s Lab at UC Berkeley with collaborations at UCSF. He aims to combine neuroimaging and computational modeling to understand how large-scale brain dynamics are reshaped by psychoactive compounds.

Hannah Hodges is a neuroscience undergraduate at UC Berkeley supporting psychedelic research in clinical and pre-clinical settings. She previously contributed to research on neurobehavioral interventions for bipolar disorder.

Hadley Horner is a UC Berkeley alumni continuing to work in the lab before attending med school. She has interests in mental health and wellness, substance use disorders, and novel treatments for PTSD.

Aspen Kim is a neuroscience undergraduate at UC Berkeley, serving as a research assistant who has been exploring psychedelic science in both clinical and pre-clinical settings for the past 3 years.

Vaughn LeDrew is a Psychology undergraduate at UC Berkeley assisting in psychedelic related research in both a clinical and non-clinical setting. Vaughn has research experience and interest related to emotion, social psychology, and naturalistic psychedelic use. His current senior honors thesis aims to look at the relation between emotion and set and setting in recreational psychedelic usage.

William Jagust is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and the neural basis of memory. He studies how brain structure, metabolism, and amyloid deposition change across the lifespan and how these changes predict cognitive decline. Jagust’s lab uses PET and MRI imaging combined with cognitive testing to understand the earliest stages of neurodegeneration. His work informs early detection and intervention strategies for dementia. 

He is Professor of Neuroscience and Public Health at UC Berkeley and Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He mentors students in neuroimaging, cognition, and aging research.

Robin Carhart-Harris is head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London and director of the Psychedelics Division of Neuroscape at UCSF. After obtaining an MA in psychoanalysis from Brunel University London, Robin completed a PhD in psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol. At Imperial College London, he has designed and completed human brain imaging studies with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and DMT; a clinical trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression; a double-blind randomized controlled trial comparing psilocybin with escitalopram for major depressive disorder; and a multimodal imaging study in healthy volunteers receiving psilocybin for the first time. In April 2019, Robin founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research, the first of its kind in the world.

Jack Gallant is the chancellor’s professor and class of 1940 chair at the University of California at Berkeley. He co-directs the Henry H. Wheeler Brain Imaging Center. Jack is affiliated with the departments of psychology, electrical engineering, and computer science, along with the programs in bioengineering, biophysics, neuroscience and vision science. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and did post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology and Washington University Medical School. His research program focuses on computational modeling of the human brain under naturalistic conditions.

Dr. Patil Armenian is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at UCSF and practices both specialties at UCSF Fresno. She received her MD from Boston University, trained in Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno, and in Medical Toxicology at UCSF. As a toxicologist, she was a long-time collaborator of Dr. Sasha Shulgin and has an extensive track record of clinical research on the identification of novel drugs and the toxicology and safety of psychedelics including MDMA, Ketamine, and Ibogaine. Currently, she is developing a continuing education conference on psychedelics for first responders and front line clinicians, in collaboration with Dr. Gül Dölen and the BCSP and teaches in the UC Berkeley undergraduate course, Psychedelics (NEU 123).

Sean Noah, PhD, is an assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cal Poly. As a BCSP affiliate researcher, he uses neuroimaging and psychophysical methods to link psychedelics’ neurobiological effects in the human visual system to their profound perceptual activity. He aims to better understand psychedelics’ mechanisms of action and gain insight into the relationships between the brain and conscious perception. He’s excited about the use of psychedelics as basic research tools in cognitive neuroscience, complementing their promising therapeutic potential in clinical settings.

For more than thirty years, Michael Pollan (he/him) has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: on our plates, in our farms and gardens, and in our minds. He is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley and the author of eight books, including How to Change Your Mind, his 2018 account of the renaissance of scientific research into psychedelics. In July 2022, Netflix released a docuseries based on How to Change Your Mind, exploring the history and uses of substances including LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline. Michael leads BCSP’s public-education program, the first effort from a public university to foster a well-informed, nuanced understanding of psychedelics.

David Presti has taught neurobiology and psychology at UC Berkeley for over 35 years, with the history, psychological value, and known neurobiology of psychedelics as important parts of his instructional curriculum. He has also worked to shift educational dialogue and public policy related to psychedelics. For more than a decade he worked in the clinical treatment of addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. He also teaches neuroscience and converses about science with Buddhist monastics in India, Bhutan, and Nepal. David sees BCSP as poised to contribute innovative investigations related to psychedelics as probes of the nature of mind and to explore the nexus between physical science and spirituality.

Dr. Gül Dölen is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, the Renee & U.S. Marine LCpl Bob Parsons Endowed Chair in Psychology, Psychedelics, and Neuroscience, a senior science advisor to BCSP and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. She also maintains an Adjunct Professorship in Neuroscience and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. Dölen is the recipient of several prestigious awards including: the Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Award, the Conquer Fragile X Rising Star Award, the Angus MacDonald Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Society for Social Neuroscience Early Career Award, the Searle Scholars Award, and the Johns Hopkins University President’s Frontier Award.

Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center. His research focuses on the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, beauty, and humility, as well as power, social class, and inequality. In his role at BCSP, he is interested in what the science of psychedelics can reveal about how mystical states change moral emotions while interrogating the underlying neurophysiology of these transformations and their benefits for health and well-being. Dacher is the author of several hundred scientific articles and several books; has won many research, teaching, and service awards; and has consulted for businesses and nonprofits.

Bob Jesse has been a quiet driving force behind the contemporary psychedelic renaissance. He was instrumental in forming the psilocybin research team at Johns Hopkins University and has coauthored several of its papers. He has led the drafting of numerous foundational documents, including the Code of Ethics for Spiritual Guides in 1995; an amicus brief for the US Supreme Court in a successful religious liberty case in 2005; and a statement on Open Science, now signed by numerous leaders in the psychedelic field, in 2017. Bob studied electrical engineering and computer science at Johns Hopkins, consulted for AT&T Bell Labs, and worked at Oracle as a vice president of business development.

Amy Emerson spent 30 years in clinical research and regulatory strategy, including as founding CEO of Lykos Therapeutics (formerly MAPS PBC), where she led MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD through Phase 3 clinical trials. She now works as a strategic advisor at the systems level, helping ensure access and adoption within the medical system as the first psychedelics move toward FDA approval. She serves on the board of Resilient Pharmaceuticals and advises organizations building this infrastructure.

Cassandra Vieten is Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health at UC San Diego. She is also Director of Research at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD. She is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. She is author of the forthcoming book Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination (Simon and Schuster, August 2026).

Anthony Dudo (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an associate professor in the Moody College of Communication and program director of science communication in the Center for Media Engagement at UT-Austin. His research explores factors influencing scientists’ public communication, how scientists prioritize goals for public engagement, and the growing infrastructure supporting scientist communicators. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed works and co-authored Strategic Science Communication and Science Communication for Scientists. His research has been funded by NSF, AAAS, and DOE, among others. Dudo is an AAAS Fellow and recipient of the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award.

Elliot Marseille, DrPH, MPP, is a health economist at the intersection of psychedelic science, public health, and policy. He directs UC Berkeley’s Collaborative for the Economics of Psychedelics, producing decision-relevant analyses—cost-effectiveness, pricing, access, implementation—for payers, regulators, and health systems. Recent work covers MDMA therapy for PTSD, psilocybin for depression, MDMA pricing, LMIC feasibility, and group-delivery efficiencies, with federal, academic, and nonprofit partners.

Ayize Jama-Everett, M.Div, M.A. M.FA  is a therapist, professor, theologian, author, and filmmaker. His artistic work is categorized as Afrofuturism and can be found in a series of novels and graphic novels.  Academically, Ayize focuses on the intersection between substance use and culture, particularly the cultures of the African Diaspora.  He is the Producer/director of a documentary entitled A Table Of Our Own about the role of Black people in the Psychedelic movement. He serves on the boards of Psychedelics Today, The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, and Access to Doorways, a non-profit dedicated to providing culturally responsive above-ground psychedelic treatment to Queer BIPOC individuals.

Kashyap Deorah is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. His family made the founding donation to India Energy and Climate Center at the Goldman School of Public Policy at University of California at Berkeley, and the Center for Machine Intelligence and Data Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He has founded or been on the board of startups sold to Nvidia, OpenTable and Future Group, and has invested in over a hundred startups including Meesho, LEAD, Groq and SolarSquare. He lives with his partner and two kids in Berkeley Hills. He is a meditator and curious about consciousness

Lea Witkowsky, PhD is Executive Director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at UC Berkeley, where she leads initiatives that help integrate ethical and societal considerations into emerging science and technology. Trained as a molecular biologist, she works at the intersection of science, ethics, governance, and public engagement, developing programs that bring scientists into dialogue with scholars, policymakers, impacted groups, and broader publics. Her work spans neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and genetics, including co-organizing the 2026 International Neuroethics Society meeting and leading a three-continent World Café on neurodata sharing and governance.

Miriam Volat, M.S., is the Co-Director of the RiverStyx Foundation and serves as Director of Strategic Relationships in the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMC Fund). She is an educator, organizer, facilitator, and ecologist with a passion for soils and nutrient cycles. She works nationally and internationally to increase health in all systems. She is dedicated to the biocultural conservation of Peyote and other medicines supported by the IMC Fund, and works in any way she can to ensure the conservation of these medicines for Indigenous communities and their precious ways of life.

Roman Palitsky, MDiv, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of Research Projects in Spiritual Health at Emory University, and he is faculty in the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. His research applies a bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to improving behavioral interventions by ensuring that the treatments we offer are responsive to care seekers’ cultural needs and strengths. His work in psychedelic treatment research reflects these commitments by seeking to make psychedelic therapies rigorous, effective, and accountable to the many patient populations who might benefit from them, and to support those care seekers who may experience adverse effects.

Stefano M. Bertozzi is a professor of health policy and management. He worked previously with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Mexican National Institute of Public Health, UNAIDS, WHO, the World Bank and the Government of Zaire (DRC). He is the editor in chief of Rapid Reviews: COVID-19.

Daniela Kaufer is the Class of 1943 Memorial Chair Professor of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience at UC Berkeley and co-director of the Berkeley Neuro-AI Center for the Study of Resilience. Her research examines why individuals follow different trajectories after stress and trauma, integrating molecular, cellular, circuit, and computational approaches to identify mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability across the lifespan. Her recent work in psychedelic neuroscience has identified oligodendrocytes and adaptive myelin remodeling as previously unrecognized mediators of psychedelic drug action, including a critical role for oligodendrocyte 5-HT2A signaling in anxiolytic effects.

Sam Shonkoff (PhD, University of Chicago) is the Taube Family Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. His scholarship in psychedelic studies stimulates critical cross-pollination between that field and religious studies, as exemplified in articles such as “Hasidism through the Prism of Psychedelics, Psychedelics through the Prism of Hasidism: A Case Study” in the Harvard Theological Review and “What the Study of Religion Can Teach Us about Psychedelics” in Harvard Law School’s Bill of Health blog. He co-supervises GTU’s MA program in Psychedelics and Religion and served as lead instructor for their digital learning series on that topic, featuring scholars from GTU and BCSP.

Dr. Sylvestre Quevedo earned his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, his MD from Harvard Medical School and the MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Trained in family and community medicine, internal medicine, nephrology, and public policy, Dr. Quevedo has held academic and clinical leadership roles at Stanford University, UCSF, Duke University, and UC Berkeley. He has led FDA-approved clinical trials in psychedelic-assisted therapies and continues to direct research in this area Open Mind Collective and Open MindTherapeutics in San Francisco.

Vincent Joralemon is director of the Life Sciences Law & Policy Center at UC Berkeley School of Law and a former Cravath attorney and Harvard Petrie Flom fellow. His research examines FDA regulation, drug policy, and the law of psychedelic therapies, with particular attention to rescheduling, reimbursement, and access.