Women's Footprint In Psychedelics Is Undeniable, Benzinga's Psychedelics Advisory Council's Six New Trailblazers

In its capacity as a financial news and media outlet, Benzinga has added six new members to its Psychedelics Advisory Council. The new members include renowned author Amanda Siebert; Revitalist Lifestyle & Wellness RVLWF CEO Kathryn Walker; Inbodied Life’s founder Lauren Taus; JLS Fund’s co-founder Lindsay Hoover; Wellbeing Digital Sciences KONEF CEO Najla Guthrie and MAPS’ Natalie Ginsberg.

The council aims to extend Benzinga’s commitment to content and education, working hand in hand with the sector’s daily coverage and the upcoming Psychedelics Capital Conference (PCC) by providing insightful advice from its members on the industry’s latest trends, news and forecasts.

As such, the council not only recognizes the achievements of industry pioneers but also grants Benzinga readers and conference attendees access to important credible expert analysis.

More On The New Members

• Amanda Siebert is an award-winning author, photographer, host and freelance multimedia journalist who focuses on culture, science, business and health in the cannabis and psychedelics spaces. She contributes as a writer at Healing Maps, DailyOm and Forbes and is co-founder and editor-in-chief at Inside the Jar (on hiatus) and host of the podcast Root Medicine.
  Her first book, “The Little Book of Cannabis: How Marijuana Can Improve Your Life,” was named the #1-selling non-fiction cannabis book in the US in 2019. Her second book, “Psyched: 7 Cutting-Edge Psychedelics Changing The World,” takes the reader on a path throughout the history, science and cultural and medical uses of seven different psychedelic drugs and plant medicines, contextualized with case studies and interviews with scientists, doctors, therapists, advocates, ethnobotanists, practitioners and users.

• Kathryn Walker is CEO of the psychedelics company Revitalist Lifestyle and Wellness. She previously worked at a Level 1 trauma center for nine years, then attended anesthesiology school at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. After practicing as an anesthesiologist for 8 years, she opened the first Revitalist location in Knoxville, TN in 2018.
  Kathryn is a leading advocate for psychedelic medicine. In 2018, she founded the national mental health nonprofit Community Change Foundation which offers financial assistance to veterans, frontline workers and the financially disadvantaged to access psychedelic therapies as well as the educational and training nonprofit American Association of Psychedelics in 2021.

• Lauren Taus is a psychedelics-assisted therapist, educator and activist. She leads Inbodied Life, a group therapy practice offering immersive educational programs for clinicians on administration as well as integration in holistic health contexts.
  She is also a regular speaker and contributor in the psychedelic medicine space. Her writing has been featured in publications like Double Blind, Chacruna, The Guardian and NY Magazine.

• Lindsay Hoover is co-founder and managing partner at psytech VC JLS Fund, where investment is directed towards drug development and delivery technologies, supporting and enhancing software and technologies and related consumer products and services.

• Najla Guthrie is Wellbeing Digital Sciences’ CEO. She founded KGK Science, published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has become a global leader in the nutraceutical and emerging psychedelic industry with a focus on how the development of natural compounds can fundamentally change the way we treat and prevent mental illness.
  Guthrie continually presents and speaks at a global level, lobbying for the advancement of policy changes in the supplement and cannabis industries, and leading the teams at both Wellbeing Digital Science and KGK Science.

• Natalie Lyla Ginsberg is Global Impact Officer at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) as well as co-founder of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit.
  With a BA in history from Yale and MSW in social work from Columbia University, she works for the ethical, accessible and safe integration of psychedelics in mainstream culture and society.
  Ginsberg joined MAPS in 2014 where she founded the policy & advocacy department and served as its director for 5 years. She also initiated and co-developed MAPS’ health equity program, including the first MDMA therapy training for communities of color.
  Before that, she worked as a policy fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she helped legalize medical cannabis and worked to end race-based marijuana arrests in New York. 

The Psychedelics Capital Conference series is part of Benzinga’s events held throughout the year in US cities. Each event brings investors face-to-face with top psychedelics companies to hear about advancements in the rapidly evolving sector.

Benzinga's Psychedelics Capital Conference returns in a virtual format this June 1st.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Alexander_Volkov on Shutterstock.