Virtual Psychedelics Conference

VIRTUAL PSYCHEDELICS CONFERENCE

*Update - With overwhelming interest, and now almost 70 speakers, including Dennis McKenna, we are pleased to announce the conference will now run on a second day, the 15th of April to allow attendees to make the most of the many panels we will be running. Further details of the extended lineup will be posted shortly.*

In the midst of a global health crisis, Microdose and The Conscious Fund are hosting a worldwide virtual conference for the emerging psychedelic medicine industry, the biggest global event in the space to date. Given the mental health and wellbeing challenges facing the world, the conference is a timely look at the new treatments and therapies which have astonished researchers.

In partnership with The Green Light and The Conscious Fund, a venture capital fund with active investments in the psychedelics industry, this groundbreaking event will bring together CEOs, investors, scientists, researchers, and regulators for an array of panel discussions and collaborative networking.

Psychedelic drugs are showing incredible promise in their ability to treat a vast range of mental health conditions, including addiction, treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, eating disorders, and many more. Forward thinking scientists, a new breed of psychedelic medicine companies and healthcare advocates are learning to harness the power of psychedelics to tackle the worldwide need for mental wellbeing head-on.

Using new virtual conferencing software, attendees will have access to leading psychedelic experts, and discover the latest trends, while building bridges with thought-leaders and exploring unique investment opportunities.

The conference agenda includes a briefing to set the scene on the psychedelics industry, followed by discussions on psychedelic medicine, drug development, regulation, ethics, investment and much more. One to one and group discussions will take place throughout the event.

CONFERENCE TIMES & FORMAT

Panels and keynotes will run for 30 minutes, with a 15 minute Q&A session afterwards. The conference will begin at 17:00 (GMT) / 12:00(EST) / 10:00 (PST) each day. You will be sent login and platform details on Monday the 13th of April.

The whole conference will be recorded and will be available to all ticket holders to enable attendees to make the most of the experience.

 

DAY ONE - 14th April

Keynote

Psychedelics - therapeutic mechanisms.

Robin Carhart-Harris

17:00 (GMT) 12:00 (EST) 09:00 (PST)

Regulation & Law

Is legalisation the right model for the psychedelic space, and how can regulators improve patient access through legislation?

Jack Lloyd, Aaron Genuth, Sam Chapman, João Taborda da Gama

17:35 (GMT) 12:35 (EST) 09:35 (PST)

Science

What positive and negative behavioural changes occur during psychedelic experiences, and what research is urgently needed to tell us more?

Vince Polito, Jan Ramaekers, Natalia Vorobyeva

18:25 (GMT) 13:25 (EST) 10:25 (PST)

Technology

Does technology allow us to truly mimic, amplify or improve psychedelic experiences through using VR, data and apps?

Tyler Bryden, Anil Seth, Sarah Hashkes, Nikolai Vassev

19:15 (GMT) 14:15 (EST) 11:15 (PST)

Ethics

Are there benefits to patient access in following the medical model versus de-criminalisation or legalisation?

Paul Austin, Shelby Hartman, Jerry Brown

20:05 (GMT) 15:05 (EST) 12:05 (PST)

Patient Experience

How does pre and post care affect the patient experience, and what are the best ways to maximise positive outcomes?

Irie Selkirk, Luc van Poelje

20:55 (GMT) 15:55 (EST) 12:55 (PST)

Venture Capital & Funding

How are smarter companies raising capital, and what has the virus done to change the fundraising and IPO landscape?

Robert Laurie, Bek Muslimov, Richard Skaife

21:45 (GMT) 16:45 (EST) 13:45 (GMT)

Crossing Over From Cannabis

What we can learn from, avoid and do better using what we know from the cannabis industry?

Patrick Moher, Dr. Dani Gordon, Henri Sant-Cassia

22:35 (GMT) 17:35 (EST) 14:35 (PST)

PTSD

How can we use psychedelics to prevent depression, suicide and poor outcomes for people experiencing extreme events or changes?

Riley Cote, Wyly Gray, Daniel Carcillo

23:25 (GMT) 18:25 (EST) 15:25 (PST)

CEOs

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facings CEOs and founders as the industry explodes?

Judy Blumstock, Stacey Wallin, Shlomi Raz, Ronan Levy

00:15 (GMT) 19:15 (EST) 16:15 (PST)

Holistic Wellness

What can retreats and non-physician led therapies tell us about caring for and healing people rather than patients?

Kat Courtney, Mia Cosco

01:05 (GMT) 20:05 (EST) 17:05 (PST)

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DAY TWO - 15th April

Keynote/Fireside

Lessons from a lifetime in psychedelics.

Dennis McKenna

17:00 (GMT) 12:00 (EST) 09:00 (PST)

Science

How can we build patient safety into research, experiments, products and services from the ground up?

Christopher Timmerman-Slater, Matthew W. Johnson Ph.D, M.A., Deborah Mash Ph.D, Harsh Taneja

15:35 (GMT) 12:35 (EST) 09:35 (PST)

CEOs

How crowded can the commercial space get without becoming a free for all where quality suffers and confusion reigns?

Todd Shapiro, Dr. Alex Theory, Jonathan Sporn MD, Ph.D, Martijn Schirp

18:25 (GMT) 13:25 (EST) 10:25 (PST)

Capital Markets

Are IPOs the right route to capitalisation and how can companies ensure their public listings are done right?

Lewis Goldberg, Grant Lawrence

19:15 (GMT) 14:15 (EST) 11:15 (PST)

Beyond Mental Health

Have we missed the cognitive enhancement and nootropic benefits of psychedelics due to mental health and addiction narratives?

Simeon Schnapper, Steve Sadoff, Tanya Schomann

20:05 (GMT) 15:05 (EST) 12:05 (PST)

Whole Plant VS. Synthetics

Are there tangible benefits to whole plant remedies or are synthetics the only way forward in terms of scale?

Tim Regan, Alex Speiser, David Kurth, Ian McDonald

20:55 (GMT) 15:55 (EST) 12:55 (PST)

Ibogaine & Addiction

What are the practical and legal barriers to bringing ibogaine addiction treatments to the widest possible number of addicts?

Jonathan Dickinson, Daniel Barogoush

21:45 (GMT) 16:45 (EST) 13:45 (PST)

Going Mainstream

Is mainstream attention the best thing that could happen to the space, or the beginning of the road to hell?

Mark Haden, Dana Larson, Kevin Matthews, Shane Mauss

22:35 (GMT) 19:35 (EST) 14:35 (PST)

The Mushroom

What can the mushroom family teach us and what can did our ancestors know which we may have forgotten?

Eric Osborne, Virginia Haze, Dr. K Mandrake

23:25 (GMT) 18:25 (EST) 15:25 (PST)

Communicating Psychedelics

How is language, messaging and approach crucial to building the right narrative for investors, patients and the public?

Susan Chapelle, Peyton Nyquvest, Frank Lane, Alex Krause

00:15 (GMT) 19:15 (EST) 16:15 (GMT)

Philanthropy

How can philanthropy from mainstream figures combat psychedelic stigma and drive research to fill the huge gaps we don't even know we have yet?

William Hillson, Kimberly Adams, James Lanthier, Dick Simon

01:05 (GMT) 20:05 (EST) 17:05 (PST)

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Leveraging our global network, we have speakers from amongst the leading scientists, researchers and CEOs in the psychedelics industry. Look out for more speaker announcements over the coming days as we add to the roster.

Keynotes/Firesides

"Psychedelics: therapeutic mechanisms." - Robin Carhart-Harris

Robin is Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.

"What learned from a lifetime in psychedelics."- Dennis McKenna

Dennis is a psychedelic luminary, who has founded the McKenna Academy for Natural Philosophy the first psychedelic university in 1500 years, since the Temple of Eleusis was sacked by the Goths in 396 A.D.

Regulation & Law

• João Taborda da Gama - Lawyer, policy advisor, law professor, founding partner of Lisbon based Gama Glória, and a senior advisor of the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington DC.

• Sam Chapman - Campaign Manager for the Yes On IP 34 Campaign (aka the Psilocybin Services Initiative) in Oregon, to create the first ever state wide regulated Psilocybin therapy program in the United States.

• Jack Lloyd - Toronto cannabis lawyer, editor at Green Candy Press, he works with Tousaw Law Corporation, and is a leading psychedelic medicine advocate.

• Aaron Genuth - Founder of Darkhei Rephua, a nonprofit dedicated to entheogenic plant medicine education and intersectional outreach in New York City, and co-founder of Decriminalize Nature NYC.

Science

• Natalia Vorobyeva - Geneticist and neurophysiologist with extensive global research connections. Background in molecular mechanisms of memory and immunogenetics and anti-ageing research. 

• Jan Ramaekers - Professor in psychopharmacology at Maastricht University, his works in psychopharmacology, forensic toxicology and cognitive neuroscience to determine drug induced changes in human performance.

• Vince Polito - Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University in Sydney. His research investigates cognitive and neurological changes in altered states of consciousness.

Technology

• Sarah Hashkes - CEO of Radix Motion, focused on increasing wellness and productivity by combining neuroscience and virtual reality with a masters in Cognitive Neuroscience.

• Nikolai Vassev - CEO of Mindleap Health a platform for psychedelic aftercare and new forms of medicine. He led data analytics and cybersecurity projects for Fortune 500 companies, and the US and Canadian Governments.

• Anil Seth - Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science.

• Tyler Bryden - CEO of Sessions.ai. He is focused on extracting meaningful insights from personal journals and recorded sessions to help improve psychedelic research, therapy, and knowledge mobilization.

Ethics

• Jerry Brown Ph.D. - An anthropologist and activist, who for four decades taught a course on “Hallucinogens and Culture” at Florida International University. He is the coauthor of The Psychedelic Gospels.

• Shelby Hartman - Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of DoubleBlind, the psychedelics media company. Her work has appeared in VICE, Quartz, the Huffington Post, and Rolling Stone, among others.

• Paul Austin - Paul F. Austin is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and educator, founder of Third Wave and Synthesis, he has been featured in the BBC, Forbes, and Rolling Stone.

Patient Experience

• Luc van Poelje - Co-founder & lead facilitator at Psychedelic insights, founder of Safe Spaces Amsterdam, he also ran a private health service (de Oplaadfabriek) based upon more meditation, less medication.

• Irie Selkirk - Founder of Rise Wellness Retreat and currently acts as Chief Communication Officer for SheCann Cannabis, a medical cannabis patient group.

Venture Capital & Funding

• Richard Skaife - Co-Founder of Cobidol Group and a Founding Partner at TCF VC. Previously held CEO & partner roles in tech venture capital & is a mentor for the U.Ks leading social impact charity.

• Bek Muslimov - a founding partner at Leafy Tunnel, an investment firm dedicated to investing in early-stage companies focused on bringing plant-based therapies into mental health and palliative care markets.

• Robert W.E. Laurie - International Lawyer, AD LUCEM LAW CORPORATION and serves as a Board Advisor to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) Canada and Steve DeAngelo’s Last Prisoner Project.

Crossing Over From Cannabis

• Dr Dani Gordon - Double board certified medical doctor, integrative medicine physician and world leading expert in CBD, cannabis medicine, brain wellness & stress resilience.

• Henri Sant-Cassia - Co-Founder of CBD Virtue, and a Founding Partner at TCF VC. He is also the Chairman of The Cannabinoid Trust as well as advisor to Percuro the animal wellness company.

• Patrick Moher - Running the world's first psychedelic PR company has given him insights which have built on his extensive cannabis company experience, helping to bridge the gaps between science, business and the public.

PTSD

• Daniel Carcillo - After retiring from professional hockey, Daniel founded Chapter 5 Foundation, a charitable organization that helps athletes transition into life after the game, where he now uses entheogenic plant healing.

• Wyly Gray - United States Marine, public speaker, the Founding Director of Veterans of War, he passionately believes that entheogenic plants and fungi offer a unique path towards healing from trauma.

• Riley Cote - After 8 years of professional hockey, his hard style of play eventually took its toll so integrated different plant medicines in his recovery of post-concussion syndrome, PTSD and substance abuse issues.

CEOs

• Stacey Wallin - Co-founder of Numinus. Her inspiration for founding the company came after a series of near-death experiences related to illness and misdiagnosis.

• Ronan Levy - Co-founder of Field Trip Psychedelics, a partner at Grassfed Ventures, a venture capital and advisory firm focused on the cannabis and biotech industries and a director for Trait Biosciences Inc.

• Shlomi Raz - founder of Eleusis, oversees the company's corporate and clinical development effort. Prior to founding Eleusis, Shlomi was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, and began his corporate career at JP Morgan.

• Judy Blumstock - 25 years of experience in the life science sector, spanning from early to late stage investments. She is currently at TIAP, an early stage academic incubator in Toronto and CEO of Diamond Therapeutics.

Holistic Wellness

• Mia Cosco - Supports wellness companies by working closely with executives of mid-level market companies to make their visions a reality. She also fundraises for Cosmic Sister and MAPS Canada, and is the founder of Psychedelic Salons.

• Kat Courtney - CEO of The Afterlife Coach, she has worked with Ayahuasca for 14 years, with a decade as a shamanic apprentice. She has trained as a Master Herbalist and works as a Psychedelics and Ayahuasca Coach.

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Science (2)

• Harsh Taneja - One of the few sector scientists in India, he has a Masters in Clinical Psychology with a penchant for research in psychedelics and its psychological constructs. He brings many years of experience from the lab and the clinic.

• Deborah Mash - One of the world's foremost experts on ibogaine. She is the CEO and Founder of DemeRx Inc., a clinical stage drug development company advancing the treatment of opioid use disorder.

• Christopher Timmermann-Slater - a psychologist educated at the Catholic University of Chile with a Masters in Neuroscience and Neuropsychological Therapy from the University of Bologna.

• Matthew W. Johnson, PhD - Professor at Johns Hopkins, is an expert on psychedelics, other psychoactive drugs, and addiction. Dr. Johnson has published 119 papers, including 47 manuscripts focused on psychedelics.

CEOS (2)

• Todd Shapiro - CEO of Red Light Holland which plans to generate revenues by providing recreational grade truffles and potentially EU-GMP medical grade truffles to the current adult use market in the Netherlands.

• Dr. Alex Theory - CEO/Founder of Sensync. He specializes in digital therapeutics, virtual psychedelic experiences, and the impact of synchronized sensory stimulation on the human nervous system.

• Jonathan Sporn MD PHD - Co-Founder of Gilgamesh, the drug design company with several psychedelic research tracks, he has worked at Pfizer, Perception Neuroscience, Johnson & Johnson and Click Therapeutics.

• Martijn Schirp - Co-founded Synthesis in 2017. He is currently the executive director of an international team of 40 individuals who aim to make psychedelic tools accessible in a safe, legal, and modern context.

Capital Markets

• Grant Lawrence - An active Angel investor in the space, he is a Founder of Valhalla Private Capital and as President of Valhalla Angels Kelowna and Co-President of Valhalla Angels Vancouver, Canada.

• Lewis Goldberg - Managing Partner at KCSA and oversees the firm's public relations practice. He works to implement eminence, thought leadership, and PR programs designed to build business and garner fairer valuations.

Improving the Brain

• Dr. Tanja Schomann - CEO and co-founder of PSYx, the ‘Systemic Psychedelic’. The World’s 1st platform to future-fit leadership, innovation and (global) systems through PsychoActive Technologies.

• Steven Sadoff - Co-founder of Sansero Life Sciences, aiming to gain a deep understanding of natural molecules to develop treatments to help those with mental illness, and help those who are well, enhance their overall well-being.

• Simeon Schnapper - A life-long student of Psychedelics exploring the cultural, regulatory, and the venture landscape of the mushrooming industry. He has traveled the globe learning and living with indigenous communities.

Whole Plant vs Synthetics

• Ian McDonald - CEO of Bright Mind Bioscience, a Canadian biotechnology company developing new psilocybin drug for mental health treatment. Previously he served on the management team at Avnel Gold.

• Alex Speiser - COO of Orthogonal Thinker, a multidimensional wellness platform dedicated to individual and collective well-being via psychoactive compounds and clean label products.

• Dr Darryl Hudson - Co-founder of Sansero Life Sciences Inc., a psychedelic pharmaceutical company based in Canada. He has a PhD in molecular biology and genetics specializing in the genetic engineering of crop plants.

• Tim Regan - VP, Capital Markets at KCSA Strategic Communications where he looks after many facets including the IPO market, investor relations, public relations and digital and social media.

Ibogaine & Addiction

• Jonathan Dickinson - a counselor and consultant who has been working with iboga and ibogaine in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica. He currently works under a private practice, Ceiba Ibogaine Therapy, in Tijuana.

• Shane Nyquvest - CEO of Universal Ibogaine. He is the former Executive Vice President of Mackie Research Capital and a founding member of the Canaccord Genuity Group.

Going Mainstream

• Dana Larsen is one of Canada's most well-known and respected advocates for cannabis reform and an end to the global war on drugs. He opened the world's first microdosing mushroom dispensary, selling microdoses by mail-order.

• Mark Haden - Adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia School of Public and Population Health and Chair of the board of MAPS Canada (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies).

• Shane Mauss - His MAPS sponsored solo show, ‘A Good Trip’, earned Shane a large following. He has appeared on Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Showtime, BBC, Epix and has 5 appearances on Conan.

• Kevin Matthews - Executive Director of SPORE, Kevin believes that SPORE is a vehicle to organize the psychedelic constituency into a unified community in order to create the foundation for equitable psychedelic reform.

The Mushroom

• Virginia Haze- A prolific writer and photographer, co-author of The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible. She has grown mushrooms for years under the tutelage of Dr. Mandrake and brings her skills as a magic mushroom cultivator.

• Dr. K Mandrake - Ph.D. in mushroom botany, co-author of The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible, now researching the medicinal qualities of psilocybin. He works as a consultant for commercial mushroom producers around the world.

• Eric Osborne - Founder at MycoMeditations, the 1st Indiana State Certified Wild Mushroom Expert, a cultivator and founder of the non-profit PLEDG, (Psychedelic Liberation Education Discipline and Guidance).

• David Kurth - CEO of The Sporing Company, David has a 25 year background in Sales and Marketing with experience in many industries including retail analytics, security, and cannabis.

Communicating Psychedelics

• Susan Chapelle - Serial entrepreneur and former city councillor in Squamish, BC. She is a speaker on cities, health and technology, and has published research funded by the National Institute of General Medical Science.

• Payton Nyquvest - Founder, Chair & CEO of Numinus. A former Director, VP and Head of Sales at Mackie Research Capital, he has raised over $100M for 100+ public and private companies and facilitated numerous IPOs.

• Frank Lane - CEO at CFN Media, the media network for the emerging cannabis and CBD markets. Before launching CFN Media in 2013, Frank spent the previous 15 years disrupting financial media.

• Alex Krause is the Lead Publicist / "Media Maestro" at Alan Aldous a communications agency specializing in emerging cannabis and psychedelics markets public relations.

Philanthropy

• Dick Simon - Entrepreneur, social enterprise philanthropist and catalyst for change. He currently helps organizations pursuing FDA and European Medical Association clinical trials of psychedelic medicines for mental health issues.

• William Hillson - Former Chief Commercial Officer, Cronos Group Inc. He pharmaceutical executive with a track record of driving business objectives, growth and efficiency, mitigating risk and increasing bottom-line profit.

• James Lanthier - A seasoned technology executive with strong expertise in business building and corporate finance. In the past he was founder and COO at Mood Media Corporation, and currently a co-founder at Future Fertility.

• Kimberly Adams - Raises for a wide range of psychedelic non-profits, particularly on the West Coast.

OUR SPONSORS

Our sponsors are an exclusive group of industry leaders and start-ups. We are proud of our association with:

• Leafy Tunnel
• The Conscious Fund
• Numinus
• Cybin
• Gilgamesh
• Field Trip
• ATAI
• Eleusis
• Third Wave

HIVE.BIO - LEAD SPONSOR

Hive is at the forefront of the European psychedelic medicine revolution, a unique blend of scientific research and patient therapeutics. It is open to qualifying investors and strategic partners only. Please visit www.hive.bio to register your interest.

COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER

Alan Aldous is a public relations agency for the emerging cannabis and psychedelics markets led by leading Canadian cannabis media professionals. The agency works with all the major newswire distribution services across North America, which makes transitioning to Alan Aldous easy for companies with existing PR efforts.

MEDIA NETWORK PARTNER

CFN Media is a leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the cannabis industry. We help private, pre-public and public cannabis companies in the US and Canada attract capital, investors and media attention.