Staff, Leadership, Core Teaching Team:
HANNAH MCLANE, MD, MA, MPH | founder and executive director
Dr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychoanalyst, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of SoundMind, a Philadelphia and Oregon-based psychedelic facilitator training and research initiative aimed at bringing ethics, equity, and innovation to the psychedelic ecosystem. Dr. McLane identifies as queer, white, able-bodied, and neurodiverse. She grew up in rural New Hampshire and spent several years in South America and East Asia.
Dr. McLane conducts research on cognitive diversity, psychedelic science, ethics, PTSD, and emerging alternative therapies for mental health issues. She is the clinical director of the SoundMind Center, the first psychedelic therapy center in the Philadelphia region, and training director for retreat offerings in Oregon and Philadelphia, with special retreat offerings in Jamaica, Peru, and Colombia.
She attended McGill University and holds graduate degrees from Temple University (MA, Communication Sciences, Spanish Language), Brown University (MD, Doctor of Medicine, Contemplative Studies Concentration), and Harvard School of Public Health (MPH, Global health and Bioethics). She attended residencies in neurology and Occupational and Environmental medicine (University of Pennsylvania) and completed a fellowship in Patient Safety at the VA Hospital in Philadelphia. She also completed a 5-year psychoanalytic training program and considers herself a relational psychoanalyst.
PAULA ANDREA PATIÑO ARIAS, MS | Ceremonial Plant Medicine Program Lead Trainer
Paula is a holistic and natural therapist, sound healer, and shamanic and Usui Reiki practitioner residing in Costa Rica. She is originally from Colombia, from the Cauca Valley, in the Tatayamba river region, and was raised among curanderos (traditional plant medicine healers) and masters of the art of healing using plants.
Paula has been a facilitator of the ancestral Medicines of psilocybin and Rapé (sacred tobacco) for many years. She also has many years of experience running Temazcal (sweat lodge). Furthermore, Paula is a student of the Cacao medicine, with the abuelo Marcelino Figueroa, curandero of the native Bribri Community in Talamanca, Costa Rica.
Paula is devoted to the healing of others through ancestral and holistic medicines, that she has been embracing and remembering throughout her path. She is devoted to the building and teaching of shamanic musical instruments, such as drums, rattles and coyoleras for ceremonial use and spiritual healing. She facilitates and gathers singing, women, music and meditation circles, as well as spiritual healing ceremonies. In her path, Paula is motivated by her passion for promoting spiritual awakening that leads to kindness, mindfulness, peace; and mostly she is passionate for the awakening of the Self through sensorial experimentation.
Paula is part of the SoundMind International Retreat Team and is the ceremonial plant medicine leader during these retreats.
Mallorie Muller MSTOM, LAc | Acting COO
Mallorie Muller is an operations executive and healthcare professional specializing in nascent health and wellness industry startups and clinics. Her background includes extensive experience in business management and consulting, offering strategic insights to support organizations in the ever-evolving psychedelic space.
Mallorie began her career working directly with patients in various inpatient and outpatient settings including Rady’s Children’s Hospital, UCSD Sports Medicine Clinic, and Old Town Acupuncture. She is the founder of On Point Integrative Health Clinic, a multidisciplinary clinic that treats a range of conditions including infertility, musculoskeletal injuries, and mental health conditions. Mallorie has also served as the Chief Operating Officer for a large, national group of ketamine-based mental health clinics.
Taking her background in clinic operations and knowledge of natural and integrative medicines, Mallorie founded the Wellness Collective, a boutique consultancy firm focused on startups in the mental health space. She has launched several high-impact, patient-driven initiatives including the heavily-controlled and REMS-regulated esketamine nasal spray Spravato, infusion and injection NAD+, and a KAP Therapist Referral Network. Mallorie's commitment to enhancing mental health and wellness continues to be the driving force behind her endeavors.
Seth Fowler | Lead Trainer
Seth completed the SoundMind Psychedelic Facilitator Training in 2022. Before that he has been working within ceremonial psychedelic framework, and considers himself a self-trained queer mystic driven by a sense of devotional gratitude to the healing and enlightening powers of psychedelics. He explores this through ritualistic group ceremony. He is particularly excited about the Oregon Model being outside of the medical context and hopes to support others in training looking for more deep connection with group work.
Elana Kanan | Training Coordinator
Elana is a breathwork practitioner of 8 years from Portland, Oregon. She graduated in 2022 with B.Sc degrees in psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience, and is aiming to finish a MFT degree in the next few years. Elana is a queer woman, a second-generation immigrant, and a lover of exploring the dusty corners of our inner landscapes.
FRANCISCA SANTIBANEZ | Plant MEDICINE TEACHER
Francisca Santibanez is a mama, Plant lover & devotee. An herbalist, ritualist, wellness guide, medicine maker, educator, and artist. She also offers Wellness Consultations, Plant Spirit Initiations, and Whole Soul guidance through her private practice, currently out of Pomo and Miwok territory also known as Sebastopol, California.
Raised in South America, she was born in Brasil and spent her childhood there and in Chile, before moving to the United States as a pre-teen. Later in life she returned to study traditional Amazonian plant medicine in the jungles of Peru, with teachers of Mestizo, Quechua and Shipibo Conibo lineage.
Her interest for being in intimate connection with Plants began before she could speak as an infant. In fact these are her earliest childhood memories; Intrigued and fascinated by the vibrancy of the flowers, their textures and smells, she would spend most of her play time in the garden looking at and collecting blooms.
As she grew, so did her love for all the Plants. However it wasn’t until later in her thirties that she formalized her studies of Herbal Medicine through the Western Clinical Herbalism program at the Berkeley Herbal Center, and through her studies under Maestra Amelia Panduro de Sinuiri of Pucallpa, Peru.
Courtney Hutchison, LSW, MPH | Clinical and KAP Team
Courtney is a licensed social worker and psychotherapist, and PhD candidate in Social Work. Courtney has been with SoundMind since 2019 and works across the organization’s key areas of work—managing clinical care, facilitator training, and research. She also co-leads ketamine-assisted psychotherapy training retreats at SoundMind’s West Philadelphia center. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Service from Bryn Mawr College, a Master’s degree in Public Health from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University. She completed her clinical training at University of Pennsylvania’s Counseling and Psychological Services. She specializes in the treatment and research of trauma-related disorders and relationship violence. Earlier in her career, she was a medical journalist and a racial equity policy advocate. A deep appreciation of the systemic forces that shape opportunities for health continue to drive her clinical and research endeavors today.
Jonathan (Quest) Brown | BIPOC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM LEAD TRAINER (2023)
Jonathan “Quest” Brown is a conscious alchemist, plant medicine practitioner, and integration coach and is based in Pittsburgh, PA. Following the passing of his mother in 2018, he turned to yoga and psychedelics for healing, becoming a certified yoga teacher and reiki master. Today, Quest acts as a conduit, combining shamanic practices and indigenous technologies with modern tools to share his unique blend of creativity and wellness. He helps others remember that they hold the power to their own healing.
Belinda Eriacho, MPH | Native American Engagement Coordinator
Belinda is a healer and leader from the Dine’ (Navajo) and Zuni lineage. She is certified in Integrated Energy Therapy and has advanced degrees in Health Sciences, Public & Occupational Health, and Technology. Through her personal practice and her leadership as a public speaker, Belinda supports the healing of Native Peoples and is helping to guide the Psychedelic Renaissance towards a more holistic perspective.
Dino Masic | Training Tech Director
Dino is an avid technology enthusiast and consciousness explorer, who has an ever-growing thirst for knowledge when it comes to personal development, psychology, psychedelics, and spirituality. He has been working for SoundMind since 2020 and has been involved in several areas, with a primary focus on tech and administrative support. In his free time, he loves to get immersed in reading, art, or gaming.
NICKI COWAN, MSW, LCSW, MPH | Clinical Fellow and Psychedelic Facilitator
Nicki is a psychotherapist, end-of-life doula, and SoundMind Facilitator and Fellow based in Philadelphia. She holds Master’s degrees in Social Work and Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor’s degree in International and Intercultural Studies from Pitzer College.
A co-founder of the Philly Death Doula Collective, Nicki served as a hospice social worker with Penn Medicine before transitioning to private therapy practice with a clinical specialization in grief, traumatic loss, life-altering illness, and end of life.
Nicki is passionate about the therapeutic applications of psychedelic medicines for those navigating chronic and advanced illness, grief, and end of life. She is also enthusiastic about the ways that psychedelic therapies can enhance our conceptualization of impermanence and facilitate more enriching and life-affirming conversations about death and dying, regardless of life stage.
Merryn Spence | Philadelphia Clinic Operations Coordinator
Merryn is an educator, guide, space holder, and medicine maker. She works and plays as a trauma-responsive and somatic-based integration therapist, assisting people in preparing for, experiencing, and integrating altered states of consciousness. She helps to guide people back to their innate wisdom and intuition through ancestral work/play, shadow work/play, energy medicine, yoga and dance, sound healing, alchemy, cyclical living, ceremony, and eco-sexuality. Her path has taken her across 6 continents to live, to teach, and to connect to the spirits of the lands. She also dances, sings, and plays the Hang Pan as a form of worship to the earth and cosmos. Her study in Global Health and Community and Justice studies has brought to the intersection of trauma, psychedelics, and embodiment.
Richard Watson | Community Outreach
Entrepreneur and laboratory professional with 20 years experience. Born in Saint Catharine, Jamaica, Richard immigrated with his family to West Philadelphia, PA in 1986, where his curiosity for science and business blossomed. He attended Masterman High school and then Temple University, where he graduated with a degree in Biology.
As an entrepreneur, He co-founded an at-home genetic testing company for HIV disease progression and Alzheimer's disease risk.
As a laboratory professional at Upenn and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he managed laboratories conducting research in coronavirus, cell therapy, and gene therapy in pre-clinical and clinical trial settings.
Justin Belko | Administrative Assistant & Communications
Justin is an advocate and organizer for psychedelic medicine and policy reform. He has an academic background in Public Health and Psychology, with multidisciplinary coursework ranging from human anatomy to philosophy of consciousness.
He appreciates that the developing psychedelic space presents a unique opportunity to reform and reimagine societal systems that don’t spur physical and mental well-being.
In his free time, Justin enjoys pursuing wellness through a holistic and integrative lens, immersing himself in the outdoors while hiking, camping, and foraging.
Josué Ayala Patiño | Ceremonial Sound Healer
Josué Ayala Patiño is a music therapist and musician focused on shamanic ancestral healing music, percussionist and sound engineering student living in Costa Rica. Originally from Colombia, from the Cauca Valley, in the Tatayamba River region, he was raised by his mother Paula Andrea Patiño Arias, who is a healer working with medicinal and visionary plants. Josué has lived and grown up among healers and teachers of the art of healing with plants and musicians of ancestral shamanic healing music, which awakened his love and interest in music from an early age.
Since a young age, Josué Ayala Patiño has accompanied his teachers and shamans in ancestral ceremonies, being at the service as a musician and firetender. Josué is also dedicated to building shamanic drums and Mayan trumpets for ceremonial use and spiritual healing. He facilitates sound meditation circles, he is passionate about creating music and through this he supports people in their healing.
Training Team Includes:
Pierre Bouchard, MA, LPC
Pierre Bouchard is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a private ketamine practice in Boulder, CO. He specializes in blending somatics, embodiment, attachment theory, and trauma therapy with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. A graduate of Naropa University (in Contemplative Psychotherapy), he has trained in several somatic psychotherapy modalities, most recently the Hakomi Method under Melissa Grace, and currently, in Ido Portal’s movement system. He supervises therapists around ketamine work. He has maintained a meditation practice for 20 years, and in his spare time, works as a vinyl DJ.
Joseph McCowan, PsyD
Joseph McCowan, PsyD is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, currently working in Los Angeles as a co-therapist in the MAPS sponsored phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. He is an alumni of MAPS August 2019 MDMA Therapy Training for Communities of Color. Joseph is deeply passionate about furthering education and awareness of the healing benefits of psychedelics for communities of color and in working to improve mental health outcomes for historically underserved communities.
Claudia Cuentas, LMFT
Claudia Cuentas is a Peruvian immigrant, a bilingual and bicultural artist, a license marriage and family therapist, a researcher, and an educator, specializing in the intersectionality of art, healing trauma, trauma recovery, cultural identity, indigenous knowledge and decolonization of healing. She has an Master’s in Counseling Psychology and is trained in Drama Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Trauma-Informed Care. She also has extensive studies in Indigenous healing, from her native Aymara and Quechua lineages of South America.
Claudia started her journey as an educator and advocate of art, as a tool for healing and liberation. In becoming a therapist, after her studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Claudia focused on serving immigrant communities, families, and children. She has worked with undocumented families, refugees, homeless population, and women survivors of violence, especially dealing with PTSD. Upon arriving to Portland, Oregon, Claudia joined the team at Conexiones, a Multicultural Center for Trauma Recovery. Claudia has completed parts A and B of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) MDMA Therapy Training Program. She continues to participate in ongoing training and education on the intersectionality of generational trauma, plant medicine science, eco-informed therapy, nervous system healing, and indigenous wisdom.
Emma Knighton, MA, LMHC, RYT
Emma Knighton, MA, LMHC, is a white, queer, able-bodied femme. She is a somatic trauma therapist, psychedelic integration therapist, embodied organizer, and conscious leader. In their clinical work, Mx. Knighton works at the intersection of complex PTSD from childhood abuse, queer identity development, and consciousness exploration. Her clinical and leadership approach is grounded in queer, consent, feminist, and anti-oppression/pro-liberation theories. Mx. Knighton teaches courses on integrating trauma-informed consent practices into psychedelic-assisted therapy and strives to be in service to the psychedelic space with integrated mind, body, spirit, and community. Mx. Knighton holds a master's in counseling psychology from Bastyr University, a Certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and Research from CIIS, and a master’s level Certificate in Holistic Health from St. Catherine University. A lifelong learner, she is in sacred relationship with their ancestors, tree elders, plant teachers, and the collective consciousness.
Chris Stauffer, MD
Dr. Stauffer is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Physician-Scientist with the VA Portland Health Care System, and dual board-certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Stauffer is an OHSU medical school alum, completed Adult Psychiatry Residency at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and was an Advanced Neuroscience Research Fellow at the San Francisco VA prior to receiving a Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Career Development Award.
Dr. Stauffer serves as Supervisor for MAPS’ MDMA Therapy Training Program, mentor for the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research certificate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, core faculty for the Integrative Psychiatry Institute’s Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Training, course contributor for Psychedelic.Support's "Foundations in MDMA and Psilocybin Safety, Therapeutic Applications & Research", member of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s research subcommittee, and is part of the training team with Polaris Insight Center.
Advisory Team:
Harvey Schwartz, PhD | Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Advisor
Harvey is a licensed psychologist who specializes in treating complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, as well as patients with spiritual and therapy-related trauma. He has undergone advanced Ketamine-Assisted Therapy training through the Ketamine Training Center and the MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy Training Program and is currently a Sub-Investigator and Co-therapist, a supervisor and a trainer on the MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy Clinical Trials. In his clinical work and consultation, he synthesizes relational psychodynamic, archetypal, existential, and mindfulness perspectives. He has worked on advancing the theory and practice of integration in psychedelic therapies. Harvey is the training director and a lead trainer in the Polaris Insight Training Program.
Tom Eckert, MS | Oregon psilocybin and soundmind training advisor
Tom is a seasoned therapist with experience in program development. He was the architect of Oregon’s Measure 109 and, with his late wife Sheri, helped guide the campaign to establish Oregon’s statewide Psilocybin Services Program. Tom is currently the Chair of Oregon’s Governor-appointed Psilocybin Advisory Board. He is also the Chair of the Advisory Board’s Facilitator Training subcommittee.
Tom founded the Oregon Psilocybin Society in 2015 and recently established the Sheri Eckert Foundation which aims to support equitable access to psilocybin training and services across the state of Oregon through scholarships and other supportive programs.
Daniel Wikler, PhD | Ethics Advisor
Professor Dan Wikler is the Director of the Harvard Program in Ethics and Health (PEH). His current research interests are ethical issues in population and international health, including the allocation of health resources. Prior to his time at Harvard, he served as the first Staff Ethicist for the World Health Organization. He also served on the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine in Washington, D.C., as Staff Philosopher for Biomedical and Behavioral Research. He has a particular interest in using simplified dilemmas to highlight the ethical issues involved in global health decision-making.
RIck Doblin, PhD | Psychedelic Therapy Advisor
Rick is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his Master's thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients. His undergraduate thesis at New College of Florida was a 25-year follow-up to the classic Good Friday Experiment, which evaluated the potential of psychedelic drugs to catalyze religious experiences. He also conducted a thirty-four year follow-up study to Timothy Leary's Concord Prison Experiment. 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. He founded MAPS in 1986, and currently resides in Boston with his wife, dog, and empty rooms from three children, one of whom is in college and two have graduated.
Jon Dennis, Esq. |Oregon psilocybin policy advisor
Jon Dennis is a lawyer, activist, and entrepreneur in the psychedelics ecosystem. He is the executive director of Vital Oregon, a psilocybin facilitator training program by Psychedelics Today, and the co-host of the “Eyes on Oregon” podcast from Psychedelics Today. Jon is a member of the Chacruna Institute’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants. He is a member of the Psychedelics Bar Association and sits on its Religious Use Committee. Jon serves on the Executive Committee of the Oregon State Bar Practice Section on Cannabis and Psychedelics and is a co-chair of its Psychedelics Subcommittee. He is a founding member of the Entheogenic Practitioners Council of Oregon.
Jon has been a lead voice in promoting equity and affordability under Oregon’s psilocybin program, known as Measure 109. He is the chief architect of the proposed regulatory framework for religious and community-based paradigms of psilocybin services under Measure 109 and has presented to multiple subcommittees of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board, leading Business Insider to name Jon as among “the most influential people helping to shape Oregon's psilocybin industry.” He lives in Ontario, Oregon.
Amanda Feilding | psychedelic science advisor
Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and March, is a British scientist and founding Director of the Beckley Foundation, a UN-accredited NGO aimed at reforming drug policy. The Beckley Foundation is dedicated to providing a rigorous, independent review of global drug policy, aiming at reducing the harms associated with both the misuse of drugs and the policies that aim to control them.
Harold Roth | Zen MediTation Advisor
Harold Roth is Professor of Religious Studies and the Director of the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown University. Roth is a specialist in Classical Chinese Religious Thought, Classical Daoism, the comparative study of contemplative practices and experiences and a pioneer of the academic field of Contemplative Studies.
Rodney Garcia, MD | plant medicine program Advisor
Rodney Garcia is a Curandero and ceremonial practitioner of the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition (PMT). He is also an apprentice of the Shipibo Ayahuasca and Master Plant Medicine tradition. Rodney holds a Medical Doctorate specialized in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. He is a licensed and Board-Certified Anesthesiologist in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rodney completed the MAPS MDMA Therapy Training in 2021. His passions for medicine, health, and wellness extend beyond Anesthesiology and the operating room and are expressed through various modalities including Lifestyle and Integrative Medicine, Herbalism, as well as Body, Mind, and Spiritual practices.
Spiritual, medical, and food sovereignty are of vital importance and, in alignment with a Wholistic approach to integral health, Rodney established and co-owns a regenerative, permaculture food and medicine farm and homestead in central New Mexico. At present, he is in the process of establishing a Wholistic Health Practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a Founding Board Member of The Church of The Eagle and The Condor.
Jessica Tracy, GBDS, CLCS | business strategy advisor
Jessica has spent over 15 years in healthcare, including consulting, strategic advisory and business development. Her background includes evaluating healthcare data and advising on healthcare design and risk mitigation strategies for health conditions. More recently, her work has focused on improving logistics and access to clinical services, such as clinical genetics and COVID testing, as well as developing go to market strategies for clinical diagnostic services. Jessica has established hundreds of new client partnerships and generated significant revenue for the organizations she has represented. Jessica holds various designations, has received several recognitions and has served in Board of Directors roles for various organizations.
Yakub Grant | Jamaican Initiative Advisor
Yakub is one of the original founders of the SoundMind Project, and functions as Director of Operations in Jamaica. He began his studies in design in England and spent almost a decade as a professor of Digital Media Editing at University of the West Indies and Edna Manley College (Kingston, Jamaica). He is firmly rooted in musical creation with a conscious message.
Philip Gehrman, PhD | Advisor to veteran initiative
Dr. Gehrman is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a clinical psychologist at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He directs the Sleep, Neurobiology and Psychopathology lab at Penn. He has an active research program exploring the mechanisms and treatment of sleep and circadian dysregulation in the context of mental health disorders. Dr. Gehrman’s clinical specialization is on the delivery of cognitive behavioral and chronotherapeutic interventions for insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, and other sleep disorders. The overarching goal of his work is to advance the understanding of the links between sleep and mental illness through translational research that spans biology to therapeutics.
Nate Howard | Oregon psilocybin and soundmind training advisor
Nate was an advisor to Oregon’s Ballot Measure 109 (Psilocybin Services Initiative), helped with Ballot Measure 110, and was a founding member of the Craft Cannabis Alliance and the campaign to create interstate adult-use cannabis commerce to accelerate the end of the drug war. He currently facilitates the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance.
Along with his brother Aaron, Nathan founded East Fork Cultivars in 2015. He also serves on the Oregon Cannabis Association’s Board of Directors as its Vice Chair and the Co-Chair of its Political Action Committee. He is a leader in Oregon’s political community and served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor. Nate is passionate about psychedelics, cannabis, and public service, and was brought to this work after a deeply healing psilocybin experience.
Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian, Psychedelic Facilitator and Peer Support Advisor
Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian serves as a police peer support officer, community outreach officer, and health & fitness officer. In this role he manages a shift of officers, reviews policies and procedures related to mental health, and supports a multidisciplinary team response to mental health response. He began his career in 2010 as a patrol officer with Winthrop Police Department. In 2016, he received the Outstanding Service and Contribution award; in 2019, he was subsequently awarded the Department of Mental Health & Law Enforcement Award. Lt. Gergerian is a founding member of the Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery Program (CLEAR), a network of community partners, the Winthrop Police Department, and the Winthrop Health Department that ensures individuals seeking support for substance use disorders or mental health are connected to community-based service providers. He is certified in adult and youth mental health first aid, recovery coaching, motivational interviewing, individual and group critical incident stress management (CISM), and critical incident training (CIT). He has also trained in and been a recipient of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He holds a BA in philosophy from Northeastern University and a MS in mental health counseling and psychological services from Salem State University.
Simeon Schnapper | STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP ADVISOR
Simeon Schnapper is the founding Partner of JLS, a plant medicine fund His introduction to psychedelics came 30+ years ago in Chicago where he studied with Dr. Robert E.L. Masters and Jean Huston Ph.D. who authored the seminal book The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience: The Classic Guide to the Effects of LSD on the Human Psyche – one of the most important books written on the effects of LSD on the human psyche. As a curious teenager entering the space, searching for greater meaning in life he quickly learned about all the mental health indications that could be alleviated by coupling these molecules with psychotherapy or protocols millennia old from indigenous cultures. Later, he immersed himself in the Amazon with various ayahuasqueros and syncretic churches which showed him the power and efficacy of plant medicines; now becoming mainstreamed and medicalized. As a life-long student of Psychedelics he a keen awareness of the cultural, regulatory and the nascent venture landscape of the mushrooming industry. As the president of the Hinman Foundation he formulated the vision and led all efforts on the ground in Tibet, Nepal, Myanmar, India, Mongolia and Bhutan. The foundation was able to support community-based organizations in several forest cultures where plant medicines are inseparable from everyday life and also oversaw grants which included a study on the Psychological and Cognitive Effects of Long-Term Peyote Use and the efficacy of hallucinogens for treating substance dependence. Simeon co-founded the High Art Collective in 2008 the world’s first Psychedelic Art Gallery and Marijuana Dispensary praised as a paradigm shift at the very beginning of the end of prohibition. Simeon advises several psychedelic and impact startups, is an Aspen Institute Fellow and a member of the New York Mycology Society. Born into a Peace Corps family, his early life was spent on assignment overseas where the ethos of exploration and helping others became deeply ingrained in his belief system.