States of Consciousness:
Psychedelic Discovery
and the Edge of Uncertainty

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.

Alison Gopnik is professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, and a member of the Berkeley AI Research Group. She received her BA from McGill University and her PhD. from Oxford University. She is a leader in cognitive science, particularly the study of learning and development. She was a founder of the field of “theory of mind”, an originator of the “theory theory” of cognitive development, and the first to apply Bayesian computational models to children’s learning. She has received the APS Lifetime Achievement Cattell and William James Awards, the SRCD Lifetime Achievement Award, the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, the Bradford Washburn and Carl Sagan Awards for Science Communication, and the Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Science. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Cognitive Science Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Guggenheim Fellow. She was 2022-23 President of the Association for Psychological Science. She has six grandchildren.

She is the author of over 160 journal articles and several books including the bestselling and critically acclaimed popular books “The Scientist in the Crib” 1999, “The Philosophical Baby” 2009, and “The Gardener and the Carpenter” 2016.  She has written widely about cognitive science and psychology for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, and The Atlantic, among others. Her TED talk has been viewed more than 5.7 million times. She has frequently appeared on TV, radio and podcasts including “The Colbert Report” and “The Ezra Klein Show”.

Dr. Boris Heifets is a neuroanesthesiologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University. He directs both clinical and basic neuroscience research programs, bridging neuroscience, psychiatry and anesthesiology. His research is focused on deconstructing the neural mechanisms involved in an emerging class of rapid-acting psychiatric therapies, like ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin and propofol. His group’s work is leading to new insights into the therapeutic potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Dr. J. Kim Penberthy is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Penberthy is a licensed board-certified clinical psychologist and distinguished clinician, educator, and researcher. Her work resides at the intersection of clinical psychology, contemplative science, and spiritually transformative experiences. A longstanding faculty member at UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), her research explores the therapeutic implications of extraordinary human experiences, including near-death and after-death communications, as well as the clinical application of altered states of consciousness. Dr. Penberthy is currently leading a groundbreaking clinical trial investigating the use of psilocybin therapy for individuals suffering from prolonged grief disorder. Her work integrates rigorous scientific inquiry with a deep commitment to human flourishing, and she is widely recognized for advancing the understanding of consciousness, healing, and meaning making in clinical settings. 

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. Sylvestre Quevedo earned his undergraduate degree in biology with honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and an 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 directed dialysis and integrative medicine programs at Stanford and UCSF and served as Osher Foundation Professor of Medicine at UCSF. His work spans global health, medical education reform, and healthcare analytics. Dr. Quevedo has advised health IT startups and was Chief Medical Officer of HealthQx, later acquired by McKesson. He has led and participated in FDA-approved clinical trials in psychedelic-assisted therapies and continues to direct research in this area at the Open Mind Collective in San Francisco.

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International,
is one of only a few masters of the Bön Dzogchen tradition presently living in the West. An
accomplished scholar in the Bön Buddhist textual traditions of philosophy, exegesis, and
debate, Tenzin Rinpoche completed a rigorous11-year course of traditional studies at the
Bönpo Monastic Center (Menri Monastery) in India, where he received his Geshe, degree. In
1992 Tenzin Rinpoche founded Ligmincha International in order to preserve and introduce
to the West the religious teachings and arts of the ancient Tibetan Bön Buddhist tradition.

Fluent in English, Rinpoche is known for his clear, lively, and insightful teaching style and
his ability to make Tibetan practices easily accessible to the Western student. He is a highly
respected and beloved teacher to students throughout the United States, Mexico, and
Europe. In addition to Ligmincha International’s affiliates in the United States, Rinpoche has
established centers in Central and South America, Europe and India.

Rinpoche is the author of 9 books: Wonders of the Natural Mind, in which he presents the view
and practice of the Bön Dzogchen teachings; and The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep; Healing
with Form, Energy, and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen;
Unbounded Wholeness; Tibetan Sound Healing; Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech and Mind; Awakening the
Sacred Body; Awakening the Luminous Mind; The True Source of Healing, and Spontaneous Creativity.

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.

Manvir Singh is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis and the author of Shamanism: The Timeless Religion (2025). He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a PhD in human evolutionary biology from Harvard University. His research examines why human societies regularly develop strikingly similar complex cultural traditions, with a focus on music, myth, and shamanism. He has conducted long-term ethnographic research with Mentawai communities in Indonesia since 2014 and more recently has studied Indigenous psychedelic use in eastern Colombia. He is also a contributing writer to The New Yorker, where he covers history, evolution, and the human mind.

Cassandra Vieten is Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine 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 Senior Advisor of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation where she served as Executive Director from 2019-2023, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019.

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.

Jim Colgan is a designer of live events, experiences, and audio who has spent his career creating conditions for meaningful encounters. He has worked as an editorial director and interactive programmer for The New York Times, including The Times’ Climate Forward events, as well as producing for a wide range of media and social impact organizations. He was a John S. Knight journalism fellow, and his career has spanned public radio, live events, and podcasting. His work has been recognized with a Peabody award and by the Online News Association. He has also trained in experiential facilitation practices.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tyler Toueg 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.

Andrea Venezia brings 30 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.