US Universities Ride The Psychedelics Wave With New Programs In Their Medical Schools

West Coast’s New Psychedelics & Neurotherapeutics Institute

The University of California (UC) Davis launched the Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics to further knowledge of how psychedelics work and produce safe and effective treatments for a range of mental health conditions. 

The new institute will be led by David E. Olson, associate professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Departments at UC-Davis and associate professor in the Neurology Department John A. Gray will serve as associate director. 

The new venture will be partly supported by university funds, a nearly $5 million contribution from other UC Davis schools and institutions. 

See also: Psychedelics For Alzheimer's And Stress-Induced Disorders Under Study At Columbia University

Neuroscience community researchers will work on every aspect of psychedelic science, from molecules and cells through to clinical trials, and one of the institute’s core values is collaborations across campus.

For the task of translating academic discoveries and promising lead compounds into drug candidates for clinical use, the institute aims to spin out companies and build collaborations with pharmaceutical partners through licensing and sponsored research agreements. 

Olson, co-founder Delix Therapeutics has licensed UC-Davis technology and supported several research projects on psychoplastogens and neuroplasticity developed on campus.

South’s Program On Psychedelics Research: Bioethics And Health Policy

Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy in Texas launched a new program, ELIPSIS, to explore the ethical and legal implications of psychedelics in society.

The center’s director and professor of biomedical ethics and health at Baylor's Medical School Dr. Amy McGuire commented that while psychedelics have the ability to transform healthcare, their therapeutic potential raises ethical and policy challenges and questions “that must be researched and addressed now.”

McGuire added that the institute hopes to be a catalyst for research on the topic while also becoming leaders in helping create “ethical guidelines and policies for psychedelics” that follow principles of evidence, science and equity.

Nurtured by a multidisciplinary team of experts in bioethics, social science, medicine, health policy and law, the new program is set to study the ethical, legal and social implications of psychedelics research towards outlining policies and ethical guidelines. 

It seeks to help train the next generation of scholars interested in ethical and policy issues related to psychedelics, and its members will also collaborate with researchers at the Texas Medical Center and across the country. 

The program is funded through a planning grant from an anonymous donor.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by aiyoshi597, Bacsica, Gisele Yashar and Gorodenkoff on Shutterstock.