Our team

Core team | Trial therapists | Key collaborators | International therapist trainers | Volunteers and interns

Core team

	Dr Paul Liknaitzky Lab Head Paul is a Research Fellow within both the Dept of Psychiatry and the Turner Institute at Monash University, and Principal Investigator across a number of Australia’s first clinical psychedelic trials. He established Australia’s first clinical psychedelic Lab, leads a program of trials and other studies, and has coordinated a number of psychedelic therapist training and supervision programs. He collaborates widely in Australia and with international experts in psychedelic science and medicine.
	Prof Suresh Sundram Professor Suresh is a psychiatrist who heads the Translational Molecular Psychiatry and the Asylum Seeker and Refugee Mental Health research groups at Monash. He is Head of the Department of Psychiatry, and Co-Investigator within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	Prof Murat Yücel Professor Murat is a clinical neuropsychologist who heads the Addiction and Mental Health research program at Monash, working at the interface between clinical neuropsychology, psychiatry, neuroscience and technology. He is the founding Director of BrainPark, and Co-Investigator within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	Hannah Bushell Senior Research Officer Hannah is a mental health nurse with a background in clinical research and policy development. She is particularly interested in psychedelic-assisted therapy and its potential to treat chronic mental health issues in a more timely and efficient manner, and subsequently reduce long term distress.
	Rachel Ham PhD Candidate, Research Officer Rachel has worked in complex mental health and harm reduction, and is a Clinical PhD Candidate and Research Officer within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab. Rachel is part of the lab’s Psychedelic Qualitative Team and is particularly interested in utilising participant narratives to explore the benefit-risk profile of psychedelic treatments.
	Josh Kugel PhD Candidate, Research Officer Josh has worked in a range of academic and commercial research settings. He is a Clinical PhD Candidate and Research Officer within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab, and is particularly interested in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and the adaptive use of altered states of consciousness.
	Georgia Ioakimidis-MacDougall PhD Candidate, Research Officer Georgia is a PhD candidate (Clinical Psychology) at Monash University and a Research Officer within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab. She has worked in a variety of research, community, and clinical settings with a focus on crisis support, suicide prevention and youth mental health. Georgia is particularly interested in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy’s relational and psychological mechanisms of action.
	Sarah Falkenhaug Research Officer Sarah is a research officer in the Clinical Psychedelic Lab and about to complete her Masters in Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience. She is particularly interested in how psychedelic assisted therapy can bring about new understandings of one’s mental states, and how these can be harnessed in a therapeutic manner.
	Sean O’Carroll Psychotherapist, Trainer, Clinical Supervisor Sean is the founder of Wild Mind, a private psychotherapy practice specialising in psychotherapy and training. Sean has developed psychotherapy training programs, and has interests in ecopsychology and psychedelic medicine. He develops and delivers psychedelic therapist training, provides ongoing supervision and support of the Lab's therapist teams, and is a trial therapist across a number of Australia's first psychedelic trials.
	Sarah Pant Psychotherapist and Trainer Sarah is the Founding Director of Being Found, which provides personal and professional development, training, leadership, wellbeing, psychotherapy and coaching services. Sarah works with a unique blend of Ecopsychology, systems thinking and Process Work. She is a faculty member of the Metavision Institute and the Global Coaching Institute. Sarah is a trial therapist on one of Australia’s first psychedelic trails and works within the Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Training Team at the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	David Spektor Psychotherapist, Clinical Supervisor David is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and supervisor with close to 20 years of experience. He has trained extensively in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), is the founder and director of a private practice called PsychologyCare, and was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He works as a core therapist within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab on the PsiGAD1 (psilocybin for GAD) and MMP1 (MDMA for PTSD) trials, and provides ongoing supervision and support to the MMP1 trial therapist team.
	Bill Richards Clinical psychedelic pioneer, Lab Clinical Mentor Bill is a psychologist in the Psychiatry Department of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA, a consultant/trainer at psychedelic research sites internationally, and a clinician in private practice in Baltimore. Bill began working within psychedelic research in 1963, and relaunched the field of psilocybin research after decades of dormancy along with Roland Griffiths in 1999. Bill mentors the psilocybin therapist team within the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.

Trial therapists

Campbell Townsend

Chris Walsh

David Spektor

Emily Tunks

Esme Dark

James Tranter

Lana Sciberras

Liam Harkins

Lindsey Crockett

Marg Ryan

Matt Pennell

Nicholas Hughes

Tony Helman

Peta Blaisdell

Phil Jaksa

Prashanth Puspanathan

Sabrina Adams

Sarah Pant

Sean O'Carroll

Shanti Monteiro

Simon Amar

Steve Albert

Surabhi Hiwale

Tara Green

Key collaborators

	A/Prof Adrian Carter Adrian is an international leader in neuroethics and the responsible research and innovation of neurotechnology. He is Director, Community Engagement and Neuroethics at the Turner Institute at Monash and Director of Neuroethics Program for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. Adrian collaborates within the Psychedelic Qualitative Team at the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	Prof Anthony Rodgers Anthony has worked in cardiovascular disease prevention, innovation, and public-private partnerships, with an interest in scalable interventions to address major risks to health. He brings clinical trials design, strategy and governance experience to a number of trials of novel mental health interventionsin Australia, including clinical trials of ketamine, psilocybin microdosing, and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Anthony collaborates with the Lab on trial design, governance, and new projects.
	Dr Chris Letheby Chris is a philosopher of mind and cognitive science, working on issues arising from the use of psychedelic drugs in psychiatry and neuroscience. He currently holds positions at the University of Western Australia and the University of Adelaide. Chris collaborates within the Psychedelic Psychometrics Team at the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	Dr Dilara Bahceci Dilara is a research fellow at the George Institute and collaborates with Clinical Psychedelic Lab to facilitate clinical trials with psychedelic therapies for psychiatric conditions. She is a neuropharmacologist with academic and private sector experience in the research and clinical development of psychoactive drugs. Dilara is also a Science Communications Officer for Psylo, a psychedelic medicine biotech company.
	Prof Jakob Hohwy Jakob is the Founding Director of the new Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, and Head of the Cognition & Philosophy Lab at Monash. He conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, and is a leading figure in the influential field of Active Inference research. Jakob and his team explore the science of consciousness, decision-making, and theoretical neurobiology and psychiatry.
	Dr John Gardner John is a sociologist and scholar of science and technology studies. His research examines social and ethical dimensions of innovations in technology and medicine. John collaborates within the Psychedelic Qualitative Team at the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.
	Dr Jon Brett Jonathan is a staff specialist in clinical pharmacology, toxicology, and addiction medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital and a clinical toxicologist at NSW Poisons Information Centre. He is a conjoint A/Professor at St. Vincent's Clinical School at UNSW, is a senior NHRMC research fellow at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health at UNSW, and clinical pharmacology editor of the Internal Medicine Journal. His research interests lie in developing new treatments and models of care in addiction medicine.
	Dr Joshua Wiley Joshua is a behavioural medicine researcher with a strong interest in research methodology and statistics. His research examines the role of sleep dynamics in psychosocial factors and physical and mental health. Joshua collaborates with the Clinical Psychedelic Lab on research methodology and statistical analysis.
	A/Prof Kristian Rotaru Kristian is a decision scientist working at Monash Business School, BrainPark, and Brain, Mind and Markets Lab (UniMelb). His latest research focuses on risk analysis, affective decision making in everyday economic behaviours, neurocognitive and functional correlates of addiction, and on designing and testing interventions for behavioural change. Kristian collaborates with the Clinical Psychedelic Lab on risk assessment, mitigation, and control of the Psi-GAD-1 and MMP-1 trials.
	Dr Rick Doblin Rick is the Founder and Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the leading non-profit international psychedelic research and educational organisation. He received a Masters and PhD in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and has been a central figure in the re-emergence of clinical psychedelic research over the past 35 years. Rick collaborates with the Clinical Psychedelic Lab on MDMA-assisted therapy research and training development.
	Dr Vince Polito Vince is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie. His research focuses on agency, self-representation, hypnosis, and psychedelics. He led one of the first systematic studies on microdosing psychedelics, and is conducting further microdosing trials. Vince collaborates within the Psychedelic Psychometrics Team at the Clinical Psychedelic Lab.