FREE Webinar: From Research to Practice: A Journey into Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Emerging Career Paths

Dr Lauren Macdonald is a psychiatry doctor and therapy guide at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London. She currently works on trials studying psilocybin-assisted therapy for anorexia nervosa and fibromyalgia, and DMT for treatment-resistant depression. Alongside her clinical work she is a retreat facilitator and co-founder at Essence Medicine, an organisation providing psycho-spiritual care to people facing life threatening illness. She has degrees in Medicine and Psychology, and has undertaken further training in Integrative Medicine, Compassionate Inquiry, Yoga, and Psychedelic-Assisted therapies (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies).

Clinical Director in Centre for Psychedelic Research & Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at Imperial College London. Dr. David Erritzoe is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. He holds a Clinical Senior Lectureship (i.e. Assistant Professorship) in General Psychiatry in the Centres for Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London and CNWL Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Following training in neuroreceptor PET imaging at Columbia University in New York in 2002/03, he undertook a PhD at University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. Since moving to Imperial College in 2009 he has been conductingand overseeing clinical and neuroimaging trials (using PET, MRI, and EEG) into affective disorders and addiction. David is the Clinical Director of Imperial’s Centre for Psychedelic Research. Since early 2021 he has also headed up a new NHS-based research clinic at St Charles Hospital, the CIPPRes Clinic. He is topic lead in Psychiatry at Imperial College London’s Medical School, whilst also lecturing in MSc and BSc neuroscience programs. He has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 4 book chapters.

Eli is a consultant psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist. He is the Medical Director of Malvern Private Hospital, an addiction and trauma hospital in Melbourne. Eli completed the inaugural CPAT course, and has since been on its faculty. He was appointed as the course’s Australian Course Director in 2023.

As a psychiatric trainee, Eli was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists Trainee Prize for his Scholarly Project on Depression, as well as a Research Committee Trainee award for his work on Philosophy of Mind. As an adjunct lecturer at Monash University, he oversees medical students on their addiction medicine rotation, and sneaks in lectures on Philosophy of Mind, Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychedelic Assisted Therapies (PAT). He has been invited as a key-note speaker by the RANZCP and International Psychoanalytic Association to lecture on PAT. He has been invited by the Victorian Government to design new addiction programs and works with the AFL players association.

Eli is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators, and is a member of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs. He also has extensive research experience with novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. He sits on the Victorian Medical Panels, and is an expert witness in historical abuse cases.

Clinically, Eli works in a psychodynamic framework, and attempts to help his patients find freedom from their addictions and trauma through relational experiences, and experiential self-awareness. He is actively treating patients in Australia with MDMA-assisted therapy.

Scott has had a diverse career, working across a variety of fields. After originally training and working as a professional musician, he founded and bootstrapped a successful online music education company called Ear Training HQ at age 23. Ear Training HQ taught an innovative approach to skill development that he developed. He successfully taught this to thousands of students over 10 years. He has committed much of the last 10 years to introspective practice, with a central focus on Buddhist teachings. During this time he has trained and worked as a bodyworker, somatic therapist and meditation teacher.

Through his introspective practice and his somatic work, he has developed a deep interest in psychedelic and other altered state based therapies and the connection between these therapeutic approaches and the introspective process. Through the emergence of psychedelic-assisted therapies, he sees an opportunity for a deeper understanding of introspective practice emerge in our culture, with the potential to support greater happiness and wellbeing for all.