Developing policies to advance evidence-based psychedelic practices in the health sector require more than current evidentiary standards for regulatory drug approval are tailored to, both in terms of safety as effectiveness. For example, in 2024 the US FDA did not approve, while the multidisciplinary Dutch State Commission recommended, MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.
Our goal is to elaborate expert recommendations based on multidisciplinary perspectives firmly grounded on pluralistic advances in the philosophy of evidence and causality in medicine.
IPEA-WG members are selected accomplished scientists, philosophers and health professionals, necessarily unrelated to psychedelic research and without any conflicts of interest.
Speakers at IPEA-WG meetings are selected leading psychedelic researchers from many fields, including cellular, neuroimaging, clinical trials, causal inference, psychotherapy, lived experience from patients from past studies, and an indigenous expert. All with as little conflicts of interest as possible, necessarily disclosed.
IPEA-WG Chairs
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Eduardo Schenberg, MSc, PhD
Researcher, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa
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Franklin King, MD
Instructor, Mass General Hospital
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Marion Haberkamp, MD
Head of unit, Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte
IPEA-WG Members
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Serife Tekin, PhD
Associate Professor, SUNY Upstate Medical University
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Rani Lill Anjum, PhD
Research Professor, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
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Jon Williamson, BsC, MsC, PhD
Professor of Philosophy, University of Manchester
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Mariusz Maziarz, PhD
Assistant Professor, Jagiellonian University
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Sarah Wieten, MA, PhD
Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Durham
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Mazviita Chirimuuta, BSc, PhD
Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh
IPEA-WG Speakers
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Max Wolff, Dr. rer. nat.
Associate Researcher, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, & Charité Berlin
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Michiel van Elk, PhD
Associate Professor, Leiden University
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Bryan Roth, MD, PhD
Professor, UNC - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Charles Raison, MD
Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Yuria Celidwen, PhD
Research Scientist, University of California Berkeley
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Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, PhD
Professor, The University of Auckland
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Gitte Moos Knudsen, MD, DMSc
Professor, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet
IPEA-WG Other Participants
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Dilkushi Poovendran, MSc, PhD
Expert Observer
Technical Officer, World Health Organization -
Diogo Telles Correia, MD, PhD
Senior Advisor
Professor, Universidade de Lisboa -
Pedro Zuzarte, MD, PhD
Supervisor
Professor, Universidade de Lisboa
Featured publications
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![Artificial intelligence, consciousness and psychiatry]()
Artificial intelligence, consciousness and psychiatry
Authors: Giulio Tononi, Charles Raison
World Psychiatry. 2024 Oct;23(3):309-310. doi: 10.1002/wps.21222. PMID: 39279409; PMCID: PMC11403160.
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![Co-administration of midazolam and psilocybin: differential effects on subjective quality versus memory of the psychedelic experience]()
Co-administration of midazolam and psilocybin: differential effects on subjective quality versus memory of the psychedelic experience
Authors: Nicholas CR, Banks MI, Lennertz RC, Wenthur CJ, Krause BM, Riedner BA, Smith RF, Hutson PR, Sauder CJ, Dunne JD, Roseman L, Raison CL.
Transl Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 12;14(1):372. doi: 10.1038/s41398-024-03059-8. PMID: 39266503; PMCID: PMC11393325.
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Single-Dose Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Raison CL, Sanacora G, Woolley J, Heinzerling K, Dunlop BW, Brown RT, Kakar R, Hassman M, Trivedi RP, Robison R, Gukasyan N, Nayak SM, Hu X, O'Donnell KC, Kelmendi B, Sloshower J, Penn AD, Bradley E, Kelly DF, Mletzko T, Nicholas CR, Hutson PR, Tarpley G, Utzinger M, Lenoch K, Warchol K, Gapasin T, Davis MC, Nelson-Douthit C, Wilson S, Brown C, Linton W, Ross S, Griffiths RR.
JAMA, August 31, 2023 -
![Pharmacology Research & Perspectives: Volume 13, Issue 2 April 2025]()
From Efficacy to Effectiveness: Evaluating Psychedelic Randomized Controlled Trials for Trustworthy Evidence-Based Policy and Practice
Author: Eduardo Ekman Schenberg
Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, 15 April 2025
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![Who is blind in psychedelic research? Letter to the editor regarding: blinding and expectancy confounds in psychedelic randomized controlled trials]()
Who is blind in psychedelic research? Letter to the editor regarding: blinding and expectancy confounds in psychedelic randomized controlled trials
Author: Eduardo Ekman Schenberg
Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 14(10), 1317–1319. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2021.1951473
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![Psychedelic therapies: healing for the wrong reasons?]()
Psychedelic therapies: healing for the wrong reasons?
Authors:Eduardo Ekman Schenberg, Christine Hauskeller, Claudia Gertraud Schwarz & Franklin King IV
Nature Mental Health 2, 1265–1267 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00344-9
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![The Lancet Pyschiatry – Volume 11 - Number 3]()
Treatment with psychedelics is psychotherapy
Authors: Gerhard Gründer, Manuela Brand, Lea J Mertens, Henrik Jungaberle, Laura Kärtner, Dennis J Scharf, Moritz Spangemacher, Max Wolff
The Lancet Psychiatry, Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2024
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![The polypharmacology of psychedelics reveals multiple targets for potential therapeutics]()
The polypharmacology of psychedelics reveals multiple targets for potential therapeutics
Authors: JF, Keiser M, Hauser AS, Dror RO, Shoichet B, Gloriam DE, Nichols DE, Roth BL
Neuron • Neuroresource, July 18, 2025
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![Reclaiming the Self in Psychiatry]()
Reclaiming the Self in Psychiatry
Author: Serife Tekin
Book • Published April 29, 2025 by Routledge
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Rethinking Causality, Complexity and Evidence for the Unique Patient
Editors:Rani Lill Anjum, Samantha Copeland, Elena Rocca
Book • Open Access © 2020
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![CLEVELAND CLINIC JOURNAL OF MEDICINE]()
Psychedelic-assisted therapy: An overview for the internist
Authors: Brian S Barnett, Erin E Mauney, Franklin King
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, Vol. 92, Issue 3, 1 Mar 2025
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![Evaluating Evidence of Mechanisms in Medicine]()
Evaluating Evidence of Mechanisms in Medicine
Authors: Veli-Pekka Parkkinen, Christian Wallmann, Michael Wilde, Brendan Clarke, Phyllis Illari, Michael P Kelly, Charles Norell, Federica Russo, Beth Shaw, Jon Williamson
Book • Open Access © 2018 -
![ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science]()
Applying the EU Regulatory Framework to Determine the Benefit–Risk Profile of Psychedelics
Authors: Kate Browne, Ewa Bałkowiec-Iskra, Andre Elferink, Marion Haberkamp, Sabine Straus, Bruno Sepodes, Francisca Silva, Florence Butlen-Ducuing, Jarno Jansen, Ivana Silva, Pavel Balabanov, Juan Garcia Burgos, Steffen Thirstrup
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, Published July 18, 2025
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The Inescapable Specificities of Psychiatry Across Research, Clinical Practice, and Medical Education
Author: Diogo Telles Correia
Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice: Volume 31, Issue 4
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![Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being]()
Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Wisdom for Collective Well-Being
Author: Yuria Celidwen PhD
Book published by Sounds True, 2024, ISBN: 1649632045, 9781649632043, 256 pages
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Ethical principles of traditional Indigenous medicine to guide western psychedelic research and practice
Author: Yuria Celidwen
The Lancet Americas, Feb 2023, Volume 18
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Current Therapeutic Approaches for Targeting Inflammation in Depression and Cardiovascular Disease
Authors: Pedro Zuzarte, Angela Duong, Maria L. Figueira, Atilio Costa-Vitali and Gustavo Scola
Current Drug Metabolism, Volume 26, Issues 10, 2025
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Overcoming blinding confounds in psychedelic randomized controlled trials using biomarker driven causal mediation analysis
Authors: Suresh Muthukumaraswamy
Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 16(12), 1163–1173. Published online: 26 Aug 2021
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CCH attack frequency reduction after psilocybin correlates with hypothalamic functional connectivity
Authors: Martin K Madsen, Anja Sofie Petersen, Dea S Stenbaek, Inger Marie Sørensen, Harald Schiønning, Tobias Fjeld, Charlotte H Nykjaer, Sara Marie Ulv Larsen, Maria Grzywacz, Tobias Mathiesen, Ida L Klausen, Oliver Overgaard-Hansen, Kristoffer Brendstrup-Brix, Kristian Linnet, Sys S Johansen, Patrick M Fisher, Rigmor H Jensen, Gitte M Knudsen
Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain: Volume 64, Issue 4
Get in touch.
Want to learn more about the IPEA-WG (Independent Psychedelic Evidence Based Assessment Working Group) or contribute with fresh ideas and perspectives? Fill out the form on our website and join this collective dialogue and exploration.
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