Speakers

  • Paul Stamets

    Paul Stamets is the author of seven books. He is an invention ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was inducted into The Explorer’s Club in 2020. He has received numerous awards, including the National Mycologist Award (2013) from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA), the Gordon and Tina Wasson Award (2015) from the Mycological Society of America (MSA), and The Disruptor Award from Nextmed (2023).

    A new psilocybin species has been recently named after him, Psilocybe stametsii.

    He was featured as a guide in Louie Schwartzberg’s 2019 documentary Fantastic Fungi (100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and his work with mycelium became a central theme in the new Star Trek Discovery series on CBS that includes an astromycologist character named Lt. Commander Paul Stamets.

  • Bia Labate

    Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is also Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

    Additionally, she is Advisor for the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition and the Soltara Healing Center. Dr. Labate is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-eight books, three special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

  • Suzy Baker

    Suzy is the co-founder of the Psychedelic Assembly, a brick-and-mortar psychedelic library, social club, and event space in New York City. The mission of PA is to unite the unfailing power of human connection with the potential of psychedelics. Suzy is deeply passionate about the belief that both with and without these medicines, humans are pivotal in effecting positive change on our planet.

    As she experienced personal healing from the trauma of giving much of her life to an oppressive religious system, she also learned the importance of reciprocity and developed deep respect for the brave carriers of the medicine.

    Plant medicine has been the most impactful tool in peeling back the thick layers of religious conditioning, and Suzy is excited to be in community with people who are on the path of shedding those layers of self to reveal a more authentic expression of being.

  • Pamela Kryskow

    Dr. Pamela Kryskow is the medical lead for the Roots To Thrive Program. She is a founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada and the medical chair of the Vancouver Island University Post Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic Medicine assisted Therapy.

    Dr Kryskow is actively involved in research related to psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, front line health care workers and first responders mental wellness. She is co-investigator on the largest microdosing study Microdose.me which is ongoing with 22,000+ enrolled participants.

    Prior to studying medicine she was a City of Coquitlam Firefighter for 8 years and provincial forestry firefighter for 4 seasons.

    

In real life she loves hiking in the forest, ocean kayaking, growing kale and daydreaming in the hammock.

    She currently resides in the traditional unceded territory of the Klahoose First Nations.

    Pronouns: She/her.

  • Dr. Clancy Cavnar

    Clancy Cavnar has a doctorate in clinical psychology (Psy.D.) from John F. Kennedy University. She currently works in private practice in San Francisco, and is Co-Founder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. She is also a research associate of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP).

    Clancy combines an eclectic array of interests and activities as clinical psychologist, artist, and researcher. She has a master of fine arts in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, a master’s in counseling from San Francisco State University, and she completed the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

    She is author and co-author of articles in several peer-reviewed journals and co-editor, with Beatriz Caiuby Labate, of eleven books. For more information see: http://www.drclancycavnar.com.

  • Ariel Richer, PhD, LMSW

    Dr. Richer (she/her) is Afro-Indigenous and white, descendant of Carib Indians, the Indigenous people of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, College of Social Work. Ariel earned both a Master’s Degree and a PhD in Social Work at Columbia University School of Social Work, and has been a Licensed Master Social Worker for 8 years.

    Ariel is an interventionist who engages in community-driven research to co-create culturally-tailored interventions and services. Specifically, she is interested in addressing the substance use, intimate partner violence, and HIV and STI risk (SAVA) syndemic.

    Additionally, Dr. Richer seeks to increase access to psychedelics and indigenous plant medicines among BIPOC communities. She is also the Co-Founder/Director of Urban Indigenous Collective, a community-based public health non-profit that ensures access to culturally-tailored services to Indigenous people living in Lenapehoking (New York City) and the surrounding tri-state area through research, advocacy, and programming.

  • Shane Mauss

    Shane Mauss is an award-winning comedian recognized for his appearances on late-night shows and popular comedy podcasts.

    He is also a science communicator who has interviewed over 400 scientists as the host of the "Here We Are" podcast.

    The third hat Shane wears is as a psychedelic adventurer whose sold-out psychedelic-themed comedy tours have inspired Comedy Central's animated series "Tales From The Trip" and the Amazon Prime documentary "Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration of Psychedelics.

    (Photo: Zach Weissmueller)

  • Reid Robison, MD MBA

    Reid Robison, MD MBA, is a board-certified psychiatrist and Chief Clinical Officer at Numinus, where he oversees the clinical services, including ketamine-assisted therapy, at the company’s nine clinics across the US and Canada. He has led over 250 clinical trials in neuropsychiatry, and previously served as coordinating investigator for the MAPS-sponsored MDMA-assisted psychotherapy study of eating disorders.

    Reid is currently principal investigator (and schedule I license holder in Utah) for studies of psilocybin, LSD and DMT. He obtained his first grant to study ketamine in 2010, and around that time led the Utah site for a pivotal IV ketamine study for treatment-resistant depression in collaboration with Janssen. Additionally, Reid was founder of the Polizzi Free Clinic and Psychedelic Institute, and serves as Medical Director of Center for Change, and adjunct faculty at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.

  • Cassady Rosenblum

    Cassady Rosenblum is a writer based in Taos, New Mexico whose work has appeared in the New York Times and Rolling Stone. She was the recipient of the Ferris – UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship in 2022, and spent two weeks tripping with former Mormons in Salt Lake City, which let to the Rolling Stone article about TDA in 2022. She has been fascinated by psychedelics and spirituality ever since, and is thrilled to return to this unlikely (perfect?) epicenter.

  • Doris Lee

    Founder & CEO, Entheos

    NYU Stern graduate Doris Lee transformed a marketing background into a passion for mental health advocacy. Battling treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, their journey led to a life-changing discovery: psychedelics. Inspired by the progress they were able to make in their own mental health through entheogens, Doris sought to work with others in this space.

    Working at a ketamine clinic, they guided others towards safe and holistic mental health approaches. Doris co-founded Entheos to erase the stigma around mental health, promoting advocacy, accountability, and access to safe entheogenic therapies.

    As CEO, they lead a mission to reshape perceptions, building a diverse community embracing alternate paths to well-being through education and safety.