Workshops - Schedule and Bios

Neurospirituality                         

Michael Ferguson, Harvard Medical School 

Dr. Michael Ferguson, PhD, (a.k.a., NeuroMichael) is a Harvard and Cornell-trained neuroscientist and an academic pioneer in the emerging fields of neurospirituality and spiritual therapeutics. Dr. Ferguson is an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. Prior to this he was a Course Instructor in Human Development at Cornell University. Dr. Ferguson is preparing to launch the new Laboratory for Neurospirituality in tandem with the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics in Boston. He is also organizing a Spiritual Therapeutics medical science research program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. In Fall semester 2021, Dr. Ferguson will be introducing a new course at Harvard titled Neurospirituality.  https://neuromichael.com/about/

Janae Nelson, Brigham Young University (R)

David Yaden, PhD Johns Hopkins University

David B. Yaden, PhD, studies the measurement and experimental manipulation of mental states called altered states of consciousness. These mental states are often among the most transformative and meaningful moments in people’s lives, yet little is known about how they are triggered, the neurophysiological processes that underlie them, or how they impact the beliefs and behavior of those who have them. His research is currently focused on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances for mood and substance use disorders. His scientific research and scholarly writing generally aim to provide a quantitative and empirical 21st-century update to William James’s classic book on the topic, The Varieties of Religious Experience, using: 1) psychometric instruments, 2) computational linguistic analysis, 3) neuroimaging, 4) non-invasive brain stimulation, and 5) psychopharmacology. Psychopharmacologist Roland R. Griffiths, PhD is his current Postdoctoral advisor. He previously studied with neuroscientist Andrew B. Newberg, MD and completed his doctoral training with psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He has authored over 40 scientific and scholarly publications and edited two books that provide a scientific perspective on practices and experiences traditionally associated with religion/spirituality: Rituals and Practices in World Religions and Being Called. His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Scientific American, CNN, BBC, and NPR.  https://hopkinspsychedelic.org/yaden

Rick Strassman, University of New Mexico

At UNM, Dr. Strassman performed clinical research investigating the function of the pineal hormone melatonin in which his research group documented the first known role of melatonin in humans. He also began the first new US government approved clinical research with psychedelic drugs in over twenty years, focusing on DMT and to a lesser extent, psilocybin. He received grant support from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, as well as from the Scottish Rite Foundation for Schizophrenia Research. Before leaving the University in 1995, he attained the rank of tenured Associate Professor of Psychiatry and was awarded the UNM General Clinical Research Center’s Research Scientist Award.  In 1984, he received lay ordination in a Western Buddhist order, and co-founded, and for several years administered, a lay Buddhist meditation group associated with the same order. Dr. Strassman underwent a four-year personal psychoanalysis in New Mexico between 1986 and 1990.  From 1996 to 2000, while living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Dr. Strassman worked in community mental health centers in Washington State in Bellingham and Port Townsend. For the next four years, he had a solo private practice in Taos, New Mexico. After two years working near the Navajo Nation in Gallup NM, he returned to northern New Mexico in 2006, where he provided psychiatric services at a mental health center in Espanola. Since mid-2008, he has been writing full-time.  Dr. Strassman’s “DMT: The Spirit Molecule,” an account of his DMT and psilocybin studies, has sold a quarter-million copies as of mid-2021, and been translated into over a dozen languages, including Mandarin. He co-produced an independent documentary by the same name, which was the most-streamed independent drug documentary on Netflix. He also is the author of “DMT and the Soul of Prophecy,” “Joseph Levy Escapes Death,” and a co-author of “Inner Paths to Outer Space.”  He has published over 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers and has served as a reviewer for 20 psychiatric research journals. He has been a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Veteran’s Administration Hospitals, Social Security Administration, and other state and local agencies. He has provided consultation to many of the psychedelic startups that began appearing in 2020, including Atai, MindMed, and The Noetic Fund. He is on the Scientific Advisory Boards for Alexander Shulgin Research Institute and Ninnion Therapeutics.  He currently is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and lives in Gallup, New Mexico.   https://www.rickstrassman.com/biography/