ALPS Podcast on Psychedelic Science

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He founded MAPS in 1986 and is considered the godfather of the current psychedelic renaissance. 

Rick studied with Dr. Stanislav Grof and was among the first to be certified as a Holotropic Breathwork practitioner. His professional goal is to help develop legal contexts for the beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana, primarily as prescription medicines but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people, and eventually to become a legally licensed psychedelic therapist. 

It’s thanks to his MAPS organization that MDMA is currently at phase 3 trial in the US and will be normally approved by the FDA to treat PTSD patients in 2024. 

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This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2023 on Psychedelic Science in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2023. 

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Michael Mithoefer, MD, is a psychiatrist living in Asheville, NC. He and his wife, Annie, completed the first MAPS-sponsored Phase Il clinical trial testing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for crime-related PTSD, and subsequent studies with military veterans, firefighters and police officers, and a pilot study treating couples. He has been Medical Monitor for a series of Phase 2 trials which produced data that led to FDA breakthrough therapy designation. Since 2012 he and Annie have conducted training for research therapists, and  supervision of therapists in two recent, successful Phase 3 clinical trials. 

For more info on Michael Mithoefer : 

This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2023 on Psychedelic Science in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2023. 

More info on the Alps Conference 2023 - ⁠Website⁠ - ⁠Twitter⁠ - ⁠Facebook⁠ - ⁠Instagram⁠ - ⁠Youtube

Vanja Palmers was born in Austria and grew up in Switzerland. His career as a student at the University of Zürich and as the founder of a successful business start up came to a sudden halt when he ingested a few micrograms of a certain fungi derivative aka LSD. After a few years of being  a Hippie and a Yogi, he ended up becoming a Zen person, specializing in being nobody special, making effort towards effortless, traceless praxis….  with mediocre success - Felsentor and Puregg (two meditation centers) as well as some animal rights campaigns and institutions have materialized. 

For more info on Vanja Palmers: 

This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2023 on Psychedelic Science in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2023. 

More info on the Alps Conference 2023 -⁠ ⁠Website⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Twitter⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Youtube

Abigail Calder is a PhD candidate at the University in Fribourg, Switzerland, where she heads a research project on the effects of LSD on neuroplasticity in healthy people. She also conducts research into the adverse effects of psychedelics and their underlying causes, as well as psychedelics’ effects on people’s values and well-being, and she recently joined the ALPS Foundation as its research coordinator. She completed her Master’s degree in neuroscience at the University of Bonn and holds a Bachelor’s in psychology from TU Dresden.

For more info on Abigail Calder :

This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2023 on Psychedelic Science in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2023. 

More info on the Alps Conference 2023 -⁠ ⁠Website⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Twitter⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ -⁠ ⁠Youtube⁠

This interview was recorded on 16.02.2023 for the ALPS Podcast on Psychedelic Science.

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For over 15 years Dr. Ben Sessa has been at the forefront of psychedelic research in the UK through his affiliations with Imperial College London. He has worked for 30 years with patients in the field of addictions and trauma-related psychiatry. Ben has taken part in many psychedelics-related research projects at Bristol University, Cardiff University and Imperial College London, receiving and/or administering these compounds in legal research settings. He is now the Head of Psychedelic Medicine at Awakn Life Sciences, a company opening twenty high street psychedelic medical clinics throughout Europe, providing psychedelic psychotherapy for a wide range of psychiatric indications.

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This talk was recorded during the Alps Conference 2022 on psychedelic research in Bern, Switzerland on 30.10.2022. More info on the Alps Conference 2022 Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Nathalie Rieser has a background in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience, having done her Master’s Thesis on the effects of n-Acetylcysteine in cocaine users at the University of Zurich. Her work spanned cognitive psychology, comparative linguistics, and addiction, which eventually led her to study the effects of psychedelics in alcohol dependent patients and healthy controls.

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This talk was recorded during the Alps Conference 2022 on psychedelic research in Bern, Switzerland on 30.10.2022. More info on the Alps Conference 2022 Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Christopher Timmermann (PhD) has a background in psychology and cognitive neuroscience and is currently a researcher based at Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. He leads neuroimaging research on potent effects of DMT on the human brain and consciousness, focusing his work on the neuroscience, psychology, ethics and belief systems associated with the psychedelic experience.

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This talk was recorded during the Alps Conference 2022 on psychedelic research in Bern, Switzerland on 30.10.2022. More info on the Alps Conference 2022 Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Professor Torsten Passie (MD, PhD) studied philosophy and sociology at Leibniz University Hannover and medicine at Hannover Medical School. Medical dissertation on existential psychiatry. Education at Zürich Psychiatric University Clinic and with Prof. Hanscarl Leuner (1921-1996), the leading European authority on psychedelics and psycholytic therapy. 1997-2010 scientist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist at Hannover Medical School, where he lead the Laboratory for Consciousness and Neurocognition. Professorship thesis about “Psychophysical correlates of altered states of consciousness”. Clinical research on altered states of consciousness, including studies with breathwork, cannabis, MDMA, laughing gas, ketamine and psilocybin. Special expertise on ecstatic states, addictions, and the pharmacology of psychedelics. 2012-2015 Visiting Professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA). Torsten is also the Author of several books, such as “The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics”, “Healing with Entactogens”, and “The Pharmacology of LSD”.

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This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2022 on psychedelic research in Bern, Switzerland on 29.10.2022. More info on the Alps Conference 2022 - Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Matthias Liechti is a professor of clinical pharmacology and internal medicine at the University Hospital Basel. With his psychopharmacology research team he investigates the pharmacology of psychoactive substances both in vitro and in humans. The team also conducts Pharmaco-fMRI studies and is conducting Phase 2 studies with LSD in patients with cluster headache, major depression, and anxiety disorder in collaboration with the respective disease specialists.

For more information on Mathias : 

This interview was recorded during the Alps Conference 2022 on psychedelic research in Bern, Switzerland on 29.10.2022. More info on the Alps Conference 2022 - Website - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Sam Gandy is a PhD ecologist, independent researcher, consultant and science writer. Sam has varied experience of working within the psychedelic field, as a past scientific assistant to the director of the Beckley Foundation, as a research assistant with the Synthesis Institute, and as a consultant for PsiClone. He is a certified Shinrin Yoku forest bathing practitioner and also leads fungi growing workshops on occasion. He is also collaborating with the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, researching on the capacity of psychedelics to influence human relationships with nature.

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