Lynn-Marie Morski and Rosalind Watts, Most Influential Women in Psychedelics

Recently, Sana Symposium Steering Committee Members, Lynn-Marie Morski, MD, JD, president, Psychedelic Medicine Association, and Rosalind Watts, MD, founder and director, ACER Integration Community, were named 2 of the 16 most influential women in the psychedelic space by Insider magazine.

Dr Morski and Dr Watts were chosen based on nominations from peers that initially totaled 158 women. After review, Insider interviewed 23 nominees, and their internal editorial team chose 16 of the most impactful women shaping the realm of psychedelics to highlight.

Since 2019, Dr Morski has spent her career educating health care professionals about the importance of psychedelic-assisted therapies. Her company, Psychedelic Medicine Association, has been advocating for the legalization of psilocybin in the state of Oregon and has recently announced that legalization is slated to happen in 2023.

When speaking to Insider regarding the importance of her work, Dr Morski stated: “Most health care providers learned nothing about psychedelics in their training, so in order to ensure that psychedelic medicines are accessible by everyone who can benefit from them, the doctors, therapists, and other clinicians that patients go to seek help need to be well-informed about these therapies so that they can share that information with their patients.”

Dr Watts has also been championing for psilocybin use for treatment-resistant depression since 2016. Her groundbreaking research has laid the foundation for therapy protocols and subsequent clinical trials. Dr Watts has also developed research tools for measuring psychedelic effectiveness, as well as implementing peer support for the integration of psychedelics in treatment, through ACER.

The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily sidelined the important trial work Dr Watts was conducting, so she created ACER to ensure the progress of the patients would continue. “I was concerned about people having had these big, expansive openings and then suddenly, in the middle of a pandemic, not having any access to integration. So, we started the Zoom groups just as a voluntary thing,” she told Insider.

Women working in the psychedelic space are breaking barriers and catapulting psychedelic use to the forefront of health care treatment options. From academia to investment firms, from business owners to advocates, women are shattering the ceiling and championing for psychedelic-assisted therapies to be more widely used and legalized.

Mental and behavioral health care is one space where groundbreaking treatment options involving psychedelics has been shown to have an incredible impact on treatment options, especially regarding treatment-resistant disorders. Women are a huge part of the driving force advocating for these therapies that will assist in addressing the mental health and substance use crisis crippling millions of people across the globe; a crisis that does not discriminate based on age, race, or gender.

Dr Morski and Dr Watts will be working with other top experts in the field for the virtual Sana Symposium occurring October 13 to 15, 2022; registration for the event is open.

The list of these 16 powerhouse women in psychedelics also include:

• Amanda Eillian, cofounder and partner, Able Partners

• Amanda Fielding, executive director, Beckley Foundation

• Celia Morgan, PhD, professor of psychopharmacology, University of Exeter; head of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Addiction, Awakn

• Clara Burtenshaw, partner and cofounder, Neo Kuma Ventures

• Dina Burkitbayeva, founder, PsyMed Ventures

• Ekaterina Malievskaia, MD, cofounder and chief innovative officer, Compass Pathways

• Jemie Sae Koo, CEO and founder, Psychable

• Jessie K. Uehling, PhD, professor and research-laboratory head, Oregon State University; board member, Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board

• Julie Holland, MD, medical advisor, MAPS

• Liana Sananda Gillooly, major gifts officer, MAPS

• Monica T Williams, PhD, associate professor, University of Ottawa’s School of Psychology

• Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, global impact officers, MAPS

• Rachel Yehuda, PhD, director, psychedelic psychotherapy and trauma research, Icahn School of Medicine

• Sutton King, indigenous program officer, Riverstyx Foundation and the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund

Reference

Less YJ, Schuster-Bruce C. Meet the 16 most influential women shaping the future of psychedelics. Insider. Published online February 14, 2022. Accessed February 16, 2022.