UNM Academic Interest Group
The UNM Academic Interest Group (AIG) on Psychedelic Assisted Therapies and Research was formed in 2023. As potential clinical applications and research for psychedelic therapies extend across a wide variety of disciplines on the health sciences campus as well as social sciences areas on the main campus, we welcome members from all of these disciplines. We believe that there is a great opportunity for collaboration, co-education, and generation of new ideas and projects.
UNM HSC’s involvement in psychedelic research began with Rick Strassman’s studies of N,N-dimethyltryptamine-(DMT) and Psilocybin from 1990 to 1995. These studies were the first human research of psychedelic compounds since psychedelic research was halted in the early 1970s. Currently, there are active research plans and proposals at UNM for the study of MDMA assisted therapy for co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid use disorder, neuroimaging to assess the effects of ketamine on neural pathways in individuals with PTSD, ketamine assisted therapy for polysubstance use involving opioids, and psilocybin for methamphetamine. Other identified research interests at UNM have included end of life anxiety, neurochemical and psychological mechanisms of change, and chronic pain.
Scott has been a student of consciousness since his thesis on that topic at the University of Arizona in the 1970s. Following medical school, MDMA assisted psychotherapy became part of his practice before this medicine was scheduled in 1985. He completed a psychiatry residency at a Columbia program in New York. Scott also completed a child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of New Mexico. Scott has published four books on holistic and integrative mental health including the first textbook for this field in 2001. He founded Wholeness Center, the largest integrative mental health center in the US, in 2010.
Scott is a past president of two national medical organizations. He serves as a site Principal Investigator and therapist for the Phase III trial of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Scott has also published numerous articles about cannabidiol in mental health. He is currently involved with 5-MEO-DMT and LSD research. Scott co-founded the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute (PRATI) to train professionals in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Scott served as the initial CEO for the Board of Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies in 2021. He lectures all over the world to professional groups interested in a paradigm shifting perspective about transformative care.
CONCHA CONnectivity CHanges Associated with Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD
Principal Investigator Snehal Bhatt Study page coming soon!
