Mind Medicine Australia – Inaugural Annual Dinner with Special Guest Professor David Nutt (UK)

Renowned researcher, policy advisor and author, Professor David Nutt, is currently Head of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and the Chair of Drug Science.

Under the leadership of Professor Nutt, the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College is one of the world’s foremost psychedelic research laboratories, publishing landmark research on psychedelic therapies and neuroimaging studies of the psychedelic state.

Professor Nutt has also held many leadership positions in both UK and European academic, scientific and clinical organisations, including presidencies of: the European Brain Council, the British Neuroscience Association, the British Association of Psychopharmacology, the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

He was previously Chair of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Tania de Jong AM is the co-Founder and Executive Director of Mind Medicine Australia. She regularly presents on psychedelic-assisted therapies, mental health and wellbeing at major conferences and events around the world and to Governments, regulators, clinicians, philanthropists and the general public.

Tania is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs and innovators developing 6 businesses and 4 charities including Creative Universe, Creativity Australia and With One Voice, Umbrella Foundation, Creative Innovation Global, Pot-Pourri and The Song Room.

Tania was named in the 100 Women of Influence, the 100 Australian Most Influential Entrepreneurs and named as one of the 100 most influential people in psychedelics globally in 2021. Tania’s TED Talk has sparked international interest. Tania has garnered an international reputation as a performer, speaker, entrepreneur and a passionate leader for social change. Her mission is to change the world, one voice at a time!

As an investment banker Peter Hunt AM advised local and multi-national companies and governments in Australia for nearly 35 years.  He co-founded one of Australia’s leading investment banking advisory firms, Caliburn Partnership and was Executive Chairman of Greenhill Australia. Peter was a member of the Advisory Panel of ASIC and chaired the Vincent Fairfax Family Office.

Peter is an active philanthropist involved in funding, developing and scaling social sector organisations which seek to create a better and fairer world.  He is Chairman of Mind Medicine Australia which he established with his wife, Tania de Jong, in 2018. He regularly presents to Governments, regulators, clinicians, philanthropists and the general public on psychedelic-assisted therapies and the legal and ethical frameworks needed to ensure these treatments can be made accessible and affordable. He was the lead author of Mind Medicine Australia’s successful rescheduling applications for MDMA and psilocybin, which made Australia the first country in the world to reschedule these medicines.

He founded Women’s Community Shelters in 2011. Peter is a Director of The Umbrella Foundation. Peter also acts as a pro bono adviser to Creativity Australia.  He was formerly Chairman of So They Can, Grameen Australia and Grameen Australia Philippines.

Peter was made a member of the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2010 for services to the philanthropic sector.

Professor Jane Burns is a health strategist, advising the government, university and social enterprise sector. She is Chair of Open Arms, Chair of STREAT and Chair of the Centre for Mental Health at Swinburne University. She has over twenty years’ experience as a C-Suite Executive with high profile organisations, beyondblue: the national depression initiative and reachout.com and was the founder and CEO of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre raising over $100M in capital.

She is the Founder and Non-Executive Director of InnoWell and a Non-Executive Director with APPLI. She was a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, a VicHealth Fellow in Health Promotion and an NHMRC Fellow in Suicide Prevention. In recognition for her achievements in entrepreneurship she won the category of Social Enterprise for 2015’s Australian Financial Review and Westpac Group 100 Women of Influence, and was a Victorian Finalist in the 2017 Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

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.

Marjane is a trauma-informed addictions and mental health counsellor with over 7 year’s experience in spiritual healing practices and ancestral plant medicines.

Marjane grew up in France, completing a degree in Biology there, and then her Masters in Australia. Marjane undertook training as a trauma informed counsellor and has a strong understanding of the power of plants and medicinal fungi. She strongly believes in the power of psychedelic-assisted therapies for to help save lives.

Marjane has her own unique lived experiences of trauma, PTSD and anxiety and is now an active member of Mind Medicine Australia’s Melbourne Chapter, strongly advocating for urgent reform in Australia to enable these important plant medicines to be used in a clinical setting to help those who are suffering with a range of mental illnesses.