Exploring the Ethical and Practical Considerations of Psychedelics Research

Dr. R. Cameron Wolf serves as Senior Advisor at the Office for Prevention Innovation at DHHS/SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention focusing on the expanding use of psychedelics, including emerging therapeutic use. He has a long history working to design, implement and evaluate programs targeted to vulnerable populations domestically and internationally. He holds a Master of Science from Harvard in Health and Social Behavior, and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in Social and Behavioral Science, supported through a National Research Service Award from the NIMH/Office of AIDS Research. He was Director of Prevention at AIDS Action Baltimore before beginning public service at HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau in the Office of Science and Epidemiology in 2001. He supported global scale-up of PEPFAR’s HIV programs at USAID from 2003, including five years based in Thailand, and was USAID’s Lead Senior Advisor for Key Populations until 2022. He has published numerous articles, reports, and chapters.

Dr. Watts is a clinical psychologist, a mother, and a nature lover. Her work as the Clinical Lead for Imperial College London’s psilocybin trial, and subsequent role as the Clinical Director at Synthesis Institute, have made her one of the most prominent voices and minds in the field of psychedelic research. Dr. Watts has been named as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Psychedelics as well as one of the top 16 Women Shaping the Future of Psychedelics. However, what sets Dr. Watts apart is her focus on integration, harm-reduction and inclusion in the psychedelic space. Dr. Watts builds tools and structures to foster connectedness after psychedelic experiences, finding inspiration for their design from nature. The most recent of which is the integration community she’s created - ACER Integration. ACER Integration aims to provide experiential education around how to integrate singular experiences into the wider collective and how to connect more deeply to the self, others, and nature.

Juliana Mercer is a Marine Corps veteran who served her country honorably in and out of war zones for sixteen years. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and spent five years providing holistic support to injured Marines recovering at the Wounded Warrior Battalion in San Diego. She has since channeled her passion and experience into the Veteran nonprofit arena, where she has supported Veteran transition and reintegration into civilian life. With over 20 years of experience working with and serving the veteran population, Juliana is deeply committed to supporting her brothers and sisters.

In her quest to help fellow veterans and herself heal from years of personal and military trauma, Juliana found relief through an FDA-designated breakthrough therapy that fundamentally changed her life. Thus, in her current role as Director of Public Policy for the nonprofit organization Healing Breakthrough, Juliana passionately advocates for the research, training, and deployment of system-wide adoption of MDMA-Assisted Therapy in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Laura Sanders is a senior writer at Science News magazine, where she focuses on neuroscience. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she studied neuronal fates in the developing fruit fly. She holds undergraduate degrees in creative writing and biology from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Over nearly 15 years as a reporter, she has received awards recognizing editorial excellence for her column on child development, called Growth Curve, and multiple stories, including a series on consciousness, a feature article on the dearth of psychiatric drugs and an essay on brain changes caused by COVID-19.

Yuria Celidwen, Ph.D., is of Indigenous Nahua and Maya descent from the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Her scholarship on Indigenous contemplation wide-reaching examines self-transcendence and its embodiment in prosocial behavior (ethics, compassion, kindness, awe, love, and sacredness). Her broader framework is the “ethics of belonging,” encouraging awareness, intention, and relational well-being and actions toward planetary flourishing through transdisciplinary approaches involving indigeneity, cultural psychology, and contemplative sciences for epistemological equity. Dr. Celidwen works for the United Nations with a concentration on Indigenous planetary health and sustainability. A Senior Fellow at the Other & Belonging Institute of the University of California, Berkeley, she bridges communities for a sense of belonging reclaiming, revitalizing, and transmitting Indigenous wisdom and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the rights of Nature. Dr. Celidwen co-chairs the Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit of the American Academy of Religion.