University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA Psychedelic Studies Initiative

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Welcome to UCLA Psychedelic Studies Initiative

Overview

Modern medicine has made significant advances in treating pain; substance use disorders; anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, and social anxiety; mood disorders, such as depression; and existential demoralization, which may present as hopelessness or a loss of purpose. However, currently available therapies do not work well for all, and some patients do not recover optimally. This creates a burden on the individual, their family, and the community. New, safe, and effective treatment approaches are vitally needed.

Researchers at UCLA in the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, including Charles Grob, M.D., Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; and Thomas Strouse, M.D., Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and Maddie Katz Endowed Chair in Palliative Care Research and Education, are looking to the future by embracing the rapidly advancing field of psychedelic science to study compounds that have shown potential as therapeutic solutions to these pressing problems.

Dr. Grob, whose expertise in psychedelic science includes a 2011 study of psychedelics for cancer patients fearing death; Dr. Strouse; Ziva Cooper, Ph.D., Director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative; and Ira Lesser, M.D., Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, seek philanthropic support to establish the UCLA Psychedelic Studies Initiative (PSI), which will build on early findings that suggest potential roles for psychedelic medicines in the management of some of humankind’s most disabling problems. The PSI will capitalize on existing UCLA faculty expertise from basic science to clinical trials.

Current State

A vast array of scientists and scientist-clinicians working at UCLA and its affiliated institutions in areas relevant to the initiative

Funding Opportunity

UCLA seeks philanthropic support that will establish the UCLA PSI and provide an initial five years of operating and foundational seed grant expenses

Impact

The study of psychedelics holds tremendous promise to help those with pain and mood disorders in a way that is not currently available.
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The Challenge

While the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies psychedelic compounds as Schedule 1 drugs, these regulatory hurdles can be addressed by scientific discovery.
Message from Leadership

Welcome to the UCLA Semel Institute Psychedelic Studies Initiative.

We invite you to look through our website to see who we are today and where we are headed in the future.

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Have you used psilocybin to treat a drug addiction?

Principal Investigators:
Drs. Ziva Cooper & Conor Murray
Contact Information:

Dr. Murray, Post-doctoral Scholar conormurray@mednet.ucla.edu