End-of-Life Psychedelics Initiative

HANNAH MCLANE, MD, MA, MPH

Dr. Hannah McLane is a physician, psychoanalyst, and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of SoundMind Institute, a Philadelphia and Oregon-based psychedelic facilitator training and research initiative aimed at bringing ethics, equity and innovation to the psychedelic ecosystem. She 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 Philadelphia, Oregon and Costa Rica. She attended McGill University and holds graduate degrees from Temple University (MA, Communication Sciences, Spanish Concentration), Brown University (MD, Doctor of Medicine, Contemplative Studies Concentration), and Harvard School of Public Health (MPH, Global health and Bioethics).

Belinda Eriacho

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.

Rachel RackoW, MD, MPH

Dr. Rachel Rackow has been practicing as a fellowship trained Hospice and Palliative Care physician for 10 years in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She currently lives and practices in Portland, Oregon. She attended Middlebury College and holds graduate degrees from Brown University (Doctor of Medicine) and Harvard School of Public Health (MPH, Global Health). She holds a certificate of completion from SoundMind Institute in Foundations of Psychedelic Therapies for Clinicians, and continues to train in Ketamine assisted therapy through Polaris Insight Center. She is a member of the Oregon Psilocybin Services Act End of Life Implementation Advisory Group, whose work aims to help develop best practices in the delivery of Psilocybin therapy in Oregon to persons facing serious illness and end of life. Her work in Palliative Care has helped to shape her growing interest in utilizing psychedelics as a tool to treat anxiety, depression, and existential distress related to a serious or terminal diagnosis.

Rodney Garcia, MD

Rodney Garcia is a Curandero and ceremonial practitioner of the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition (PMT). He also is an apprentice of the Shipibo Ayahuasca and Master Plant tradition working under Enrique López Fasanando, at Inkan Kena Centro Espiritual in the Peruvian Amazon. Rodney holds a Medical Doctorate specialized in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. He is a licensed and Board-Certified Anesthesiologist practicing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His passions for medicine, health, and wellness extend beyond Anesthesiology and the operating room and are expressed through various western medicine modalities including Lifestyle and Integrative Medicine, as well as Body, Mind, and Spiritual practices.

Spiritual, medical, and food sovereignty are of vital importance to him and, in alignment with this overarching approach to integral health, Rodney established and co-owns a regenerative, permaculture farm and homestead in the high desert environment of central New Mexico. Rodney and his partner are in the process of establishing a Ceremonial retreat and Wellness Center in Mexico, in the town of Tomatlan. The Center will serve as a traditional medicines practice and plant medicine educational center for the local communities and international visitors.

Sara Barbosa

Sara is an anthropologist from Universidad de los Andes with indigenous wisdom transmission 10 years with Ramiro Romero and grandmother Naco in Midwifery and traditional muisca medicine. She is the co-founder of Fundación Mujeres Bachué and Origenes Salud IPS. Her work has been around understanding the ethnopsychological matrix within muisca wisdom and bridge it with psychotherapy and allopatic medicine. From the academic perspective she is an anthropologist with a master in holistic psychology. To complement her practice and focus it on psychedelic therapy she has been training and teaching with Soundmind Institute.

Nicki Cowan, MSW, LSW, MPH

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.

COURTNEY HUTCHISON, LSW, MPH

Courtney is a social worker and psychotherapist working with adults and adolescents in the Philadelphia area. 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 is currently a doctoral student at Rutgers University, where she specializes in clinical research on trauma and PTSD treatment. She plans to study MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in her PhD work. 

Drew Kotler, MD

Dr. Drew Kotler is a fellowship trained Hospice and Palliative Medicine physician in Philadelphia currently working in the inpatient setting primarily treating patients approaching the end of life. He attended Northwestern University as an undergraduate followed by medical school at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He then went on to an Internal Medicine residency and chief residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital followed by fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He has a strong interest in medical education and regularly teaches medical and surgical residents on topics in Palliative Care including end of life care. He is interested in the emerging role of psychedelics in patients coping with a serious illness, particularly those with existential distress regarding the end of life. He is also interested in educating clinicians about the role of psychedelics in patients with serious illness.