Its theory & practice, history & future: featuring best-selling author Michael Pollan, MAPS Founder & Executive Director Rick Doblin, psychedelic and brain science researchers Robin Carhart-Harris (Imperial College, London) and Matthew Johnson (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine), psychedelic therapist Anja Loizaga-Velder (Instituto Nierika and UNAM), and psychiatrist Franklin King (Massachusetts General Hospital), as moderated by psychiatrist and author Julie Holland.

Its theory & practice, history & future: featuring best-selling author Michael Pollan, MAPS Founder & Executive Director Rick Doblin, psychedelic and brain science researchers Robin Carhart-Harris (Imperial College, London) and Matthew Johnson (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine), psychedelic therapist Anja Loizaga-Velder (Instituto Nierika and UNAM), and psychiatrist Franklin King (Massachusetts General Hospital), as moderated by psychiatrist and author Julie Holland.
Michael Pollan is a New York Times best-selling author. Most recently, his book “How To Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence” reached #1. Mr. Pollan will share his experiences exploring the current renaissance of psychedelic research, interviewing both researchers and patients.
As Founder & Executive Director of MAPS, a non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana, Dr. Doblin brings unmatched expertise regarding the legalization of psychedelic medicine to the panel discussion.
Centre for Neuropsycho-pharmacology,
Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London
In addition to being the head of Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, Dr. Carhart-Harris will soon be opening a psychedelic research center at the University of Oxford. He will begin the afternoon with a brief keynote lecture on the therapeutic mechanisms of psychedelic medicine. APPEARING VIA LIVE VIDEO LINK
Anja loizaga-velder, pHD
Nierika Institute for Intercultural Medicine & Faculty of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico- UNAM
Dr. Loizaga-Velder is a clinical psychologist and an adjunct professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico, Faculty of Medicine. Additionally, she is a founding member and director of research and psychotherapy at the Institute for Intercultural Medicine Nierika, A.C. in Mexico. She collaborates with indigenous healers, investigating the therapeutic potential of the ritual use of psychedelic plants. Dr. Loizaga-Velder brings a more historical and cultural perspective to the discussion.
Dr. Johnson is an expert on drugs and addiction/risk behavior, having published >100 articles and chapters. For over 14 years, he has conducted psychedelic research, including psilocybin studies of mystical experience, cancer-related depression & anxiety, and meditation. He is the principal investigator of psilocybin-based smoking cessation research, and has been interviewed on news networks including the BCC, CNN, NPR, Fox Business News, and the New York Times.
Dr. King is an attending psychiatrist and clinical research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His clinical interests include the applications of psychedelic medicines in psychiatry, and he is currently working on research initiatives involving these compounds at MGH.
Dr. Holland is a psychopharmacologist, psychiatrist, and author with a deep expertise in drugs and behavior. From 1995 through 2012, she was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. Since then, she has been the medical monitor for multiple therapeutic studies involving MDMA and Cannabis in the treatment of PTSD in American veterans and other trauma survivors. Dr. Holland has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox, and the National Geographic Channel, among others. She is currently in private practice in New York City.
Taking the T
From Harvard Medical School, it takes about 30-40 minutes to reach the Broad Institute by train:
- take the E green line to Park Street, then take the Red Line (toward Alewife), and get off at the Kendall/MIT T stop.
From Harvard University, Cambridge campus, it takes about 10 minutes to reach the Broad Institute by train:
- take the red line (toward Ashmont/Braintree) and get off at the Kendall/MIT T stop