Ana Flecha is a PhD student in Latinx studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ana’s study focuses on the practice of the bailado, or the Santo Daime danced spiritual work, during a historic festival in the village Ceu do Mapiá in the Southern Amazon forest that will bring together more than a thousand Daime practitioners from various countries around the world. By focusing on the corporeal psychedelic practice of the bailado during this momentous festival, this study will consider the entanglement of gendered social roles, especially women’s leadership, within local, distant, and extended Daime communities.

Madeline Pantoni is a PhD student in psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Madeline’s study examines the effects of MDMA on learning and memory, social behavior, depression, and anxiety in mice across a wide range of doses. This research will greatly enhance our understanding of the therapeutic potential of MDMA, elucidate the role of dose in the behavioral effects of MDMA, and ultimately help guide future clinical studies exploring MDMA as a therapeutic for a range of psychiatric disorders.

Halsey Niles is a medical student at Yale University. He is undertaking a qualitative approach to determine major themes in the attitudes toward psychedelic-assisted therapy held by providers who care for patients facing existential distress. Analysis of themes from interviews with twenty physicians, chaplains, mental health clinicians and advanced practice providers in the fields of hospice and palliative care will provide insight into barriers to access and sources of concern for clinicians. This study will reveal avenues to increase access to psychedelic-assisted therapy for diverse patient populations.

Terence Ching is a PhD student in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. His project aims to examine ethnic differences in efficacy, safety, and putative mechanisms of action of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a sample of 37 participants (27 non-Hispanic Whites, 10 participants of color) from the MAPS MP-16/17 trial. Next, this study will include an informative and destigmatizing mixed-methods case study of a participant of color who successfully completed the trial.

Morty was born in August 2013 and quickly rose to the position of head of household in his families home. His favorite hobbies include chasing a ball, barking at strangers, and doing any number of tricks for treats. He is currently pursuing learning new skills at running through obstacle courses. He is passionate about psychedelic research because he believes there is something very important about learning to stay present and “in the moment” which he has heard several humans talking about regarding one potential avenue of psychedelic benefits.

Lauren Padgett is an organizer and activist who has been involved in the drug policy reform movement since 2013. She is the Development Director at Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes 5,000 students in 33 countries to change harmful and punitive drug policies, especially those that directly harm students and young people. Lauren joined the SSDP team in 2014 and has been with the organization through its largest period of growth. At 29, she became the youngest Development Director ever to work in drug policy. She is primarily responsible for major donor stewardship, grant writing, and crafting and executing SSDP’s annual strategic fundraising plan.

Lauren studied psychology at Northeastern University and spent her early career in Boston counseling and supporting adults and youth living with mental illness. She became active in the drug policy reform movement because of her experience using medical cannabis to manage chronic pain related to autoimmune disease. She got her start by stuffing envelopes at Marijuana Policy Project and later joined the membership team in a full-time role before later joining the SSDP staff. In 2014, she testified before the DC Council and the DC Department of Health in favor of a physician-controlled conditions list for the medical cannabis program, which was unanimously adopted by the DC Council through emergency legislation.

Lauren is passionate about grassroots fundraising and believes that it plays a crucial role in movement building and fosters community and accountability among organizations and their supporters. She especially enjoys training and mentoring new fundraisers. Lauren is a founding board member of the nonprofit harm reduction website DrugStory.

Rafael Lancelotta is a recent graduate from the University of Wyoming in Mental Health Counseling. He is interested in the use of psychedelics towards greater levels of resiliency, mental health, and openness. He is also interested in the investigation of techniques used in the counseling relationship that may deepen and enhance the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy integration. He is passionate about opening the doors to psychedelic research to all students that are interested as well as helping to raise awareness as to the responsible clinical applications of psychedelics/entheogens. He hopes to continue on to a PhD to help develop evidence-based practices for psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions and integration to empower individuals to make lasting positive change in their lives and in their communities. He currently works as a therapist at Innate Path in Denver, CO. He is also the administrator of 5meodmt.org, which is a forum dedicated to forming community discussions on harm reduction, integration, and safe practices around 5-MeO-DMT.

Kathleen A Davis is a United States Army Veteran who served in the Women’s Army Corps during the Vietnam War. She studied psychology at the University of California in San Diego prior to working in law enforcement and security for many years in Las Vegas, Nevada. She then moved to Washington state where she was involved in a community music organization and worked as a professional driver. She is now retired and enjoys spending time with her two children, traveling with her husband and friends, and doting on her grand-dog. Her interests in psychedelic science were inspired by her son, Dr. Alan K Davis, and his research into the epidemiology and clinical applications of psychedelic substance administration. She is also the registered agent of Source Research Foundation.

Dawn D. Davis is Tribal person belonging to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Arizona where she researched the conservation and sustainability of peyote, an Indigenous medicine, within its natural habitat. She continues to discuss endangerment levels of peyote and preservation efforts among peyotists. Dawn is currently a PhD student at the University of Idaho studying her first medicine, water, with an emphasis in Law, Management, and Policy. Dawn is married to Dr. Cleve Davis and they live on a microfarm with their two daughters, Lilianna and Isla. She also exercises laughter and practices humor often.

Dr. Alan K Davis is a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University where his research focuses on the epidemiology, phenomenology, and psychology of recreational and medical use of licit and illicit substances. He also examines the potential of psychoactive substance administration in the treatment of mental health and addictive disorders. His education and training in clinical psychology provoked a deep appreciation for the financial challenges faced by students who wish to study topics related to psychedelics/entheogens. Funding for student research is often quite limited, regardless of the topic, but funding for psychedelic research is especially low and the limited funding for research in this area is typically reserved for clinical trials at leading institutions in the United States and abroad. Therefore, Source Research Foundation was created as a way to stimulate advances in entheogen research and to support the development of young scientists who wish to study the epidemiology, phenomenology, and/or clinical applications of entheogens. Alan also hopes to develop a virtual collaboratory of students, scientists, and community members who are passionate about contributing to entheogen research.

ResearchGate Profile

Dr. Mariana M. Cajaiba is a physician trained in Clinical Oncology and Anatomic Pathology who currently holds an appointment as Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She has an extensive record of scholarly activity, having participated as a principal or co-investigator in numerous original research projects, and has played a leadership role in the medical community through the development and implementation of clinical protocols and guidelines, participation in scientific review committees, and editorial responsibilities for several peer-review medical journals. As a graduate of the California Institute for Integral Studies Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Certificate Program, Dr. Cajaiba has a passion for understanding the healing impact of the therapeutic use of psychedelics, and is excited to be a founding member of the Board of Directors at Source Research Foundation.

Dr. Joseph Peter Barsuglia is a research psychologist and a former Christian pastor. He recently served as the Director of Clinical Research and Assessment at Crossroads Treatment Center in Mexico, which utilized the psychedelic compounds Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT in the treatment of addiction and for psychospiritual development. In this role, Joseph collected and presented the first observational data on the effects of 5-MeO-DMT in humans, as well as the long-term outcomes of Ibogaine treatment in individuals with opioid use disorder. He is a research therapist in the phase 3 trials of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Joseph earned a Master’s degree and PhD in clinical psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology from the Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, and a Master’s degree in Spiritual Theology from the Fuller Theological Seminary. He received his clinical training in neuropsychology in several academic medical centers including the University of Southern California, the Semel Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA, and the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, where he completed an internship in geropsychology. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital in advanced geriatrics and behavioral neuroscience and his research is published in multiple peer-reviewed journals. Over the past 10 years, Joseph has focused primarily on aiding individuals with addictions, eating disorders, chronic mental illness, veterans’ issues, developmental trauma, and spiritual crisis. Joseph is committed to advancing research, clinical practice, and advocacy in the burgeoning field of psychedelic healthcare.

Dr. Lynnette “Nette” A. Averill is a clinical research psychologist at the National Center for PTSD-Clinical Neurosciences Division (NCPTSD-CND) at the VA Connecticut and Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. She earned her PhD at the University of Utah after completing a clinical internship at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX. Her fellowship training emphasized the neurobiology of PTSD and pharmacoimaging trials, focused on the novel, investigational antidepressant ketamine and multi-method magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS). In addition to her work with ketamine clinical trials, Dr. Averill is collaborating on an MDMA neuroimaging study and had the opportunity to complete portions of the training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD under the mentorship of Michael and Annie Mithoefer. She is especially interested in novel pharmacologic interventions with potential to provide rapid and robust improvements in symptoms, including chronic PTSD and suicidality.

Dr. Averill has a strong and dedicated history of Veteran-centric research and clinical work within the VA, focused on posttraumatic mental health, neuropsychological assessment, cognitive function, suicidal ideation and behavior, and evidence-based treatments for mood and anxiety disorders. Her father was an enlisted infantryman with the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and, like so many service members, struggled to cope with what he had experienced in theater. He died by suicide when she was three years old. Although she has no memory of him, his life and subsequent death has guided the course of her life, shaping Dr. Averill both personally and professionally. Her commitment to working in this field, serving Veterans, and engaging in research focused on novel treatments for PTSD and suicidality is evidenced by continual research and clinical practice throughout graduate school, internship, and fellowship, in addition to her Fulbright work (at the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health), and now her junior faculty position at the NCPTSD-CND and Yale. She began working at the Salt Lake City VA in May 2004, while still an undergraduate student. She has worked consistently, never straying from this path, and with experience and advancing doctoral education, has progressed from making photocopies and sharpening pencils for the PTSD Clinic, to providing a wide range of clinical services, engaging in stress and trauma-centric research, and being awarded the Utah Campus Compact Outstanding Student Humanitarian Award for her dedication to Veterans’ Mental Health and service to the VA, being actively engaged in leadership roles in relevant international professional organizations (ISTSS, INS), serving as a contributing editor for Clinician’s Trauma Update – Online and Traumatic StressPoints, being selected for travel awards to some of the field’s premier professional organizations (ACNP, ISCTM), serving as Managing Editor for a new scientific journal Chronic Stress (published by Sage), leading and co-authoring numerous original and review manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, securing competitive funding including VA, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Brain and Behavior Foundation/NARSAD, and now having the opportunity serve as an inaugural member of the Board of Directors for Source Research Foundation.

Dr. Brooke J. Arterberry is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University. Dr. Arterberry completed her Postdoctoral Training at the University of Michigan Addiction Center in the Department of Psychiatry and the Ann Arbor VA. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri, M.S. in Counseling and Counselor Education at Indiana University, and B.A. in Psychology and English at the University of Southern Indiana. Her research focuses on understanding the developmental risks associated with substance use (e.g., alcohol and cannabis use/co-use) using a socio-ecological perspective and polysubstance use framework. She is also interested in the development of efficacious intervention/prevention programs aimed at reducing adolescent and young adult substance use behaviors that result in negative consequences. Because of her training experiences, Dr. Arterberry believes mentorship and supporting students in opportunities to pursue their research passions will aid in understanding the differences in recreational and medicinal uses of substances – especially within the burgeoning area of psychedelic research.