Professional Overview
Education History
| Bachelor of Arts: | University of Pennsylvania, Biochemistry (2007) |
| MSc: | London School of Economics, Biomedicine Bioscience &Society (2011) |
Internet Links
Clerkships
| Calendar Year | Quarter | List of Clerkships |
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| 2012 | Spring |
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| 2011 | Autumn |
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| 2010 | Summer |
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Honors and Awards
- Annual student paper prize, The Society for Medical Anthropology's Alcohol, Drug & Tobacco Study Group (2011)
Service, Volunteer, and Community Work
- Medic, BRC Emergency Services Dept (8/1/2010 - present)
- Arbor Mental Health Clinic Coordinator (5/15/2009 - 5/15/2010)
- Board Member, Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac , Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac (6/15/2006 - 3/15/2009)
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
The socio-cultural constructions behind how patients and practitioners understand psychiatric diseases and treatments, and how these understandings may ultimately affect mental health. Particular focus on how psychedelic drugs like ayahuasca are used in folk healing, and in conventional psychiatric research as experimental therapies.
Research Projects
- Translational Ayahuasca: Cultural Psychiatry of a Psychedelic Therapy for Depression (MedScholars project)
Presentations
- Psychiatric Ontologies of Ayahuasca: Psychosis or Spiritual Cure?
- Ayahuasca in psychiatry: From psiquiatría folklórica to neuroimaging
- Ayahuasca as Antidepressant?
- Cultural Psychiatry: Examining the Use of Ayahuasca in Biomedical Depression Research
- The Treatment & Handling of Substance Dependence with Ayahuasca: Reflections on Current & Future Research
- The Translation of Ayahuasca into a Depression & Anxiety Therapy
- Considerations for the treatment of substance dependence by means of Ayahuasca
- Hoasca Ecologies: Environmentalism in the Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal
Publications
- Effect of membership in a Brazilian ayahuasca religion on substance dependence In: Labate & Bouso (eds), Ayahuasca y Salud. 2013
- Ayahuasca as Antidepressant? Psychedelics and Styles of Reasoning in Psychiatry Anthropology of Consciousness. 2012; (1): 44-59
- Declaração sobre a ayahuasca Instituto Brasileiro de Ciências Criminais--www.ibccrim.org.br. 2012
- Déclaration_à_propos_de_layahuasca NEIP.info. 2012
- Statement on ayahuasca. Int J Drug Policy. 2012; (3): 173-5
- Ayahuasca e depressão / Ayahuasca and depression Plantandoconsciencia.wordpress.com. 2011
Student Life and Personal Pursuits
Membership Organizations
- Psychiatry Interest Group, Former Co-President
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