Meet the Experts
Grace Blest-Hopley Ph.D.
Research Director - Heroic Hearts Project UK
Julane Andries, LMFT
Julane Andries LMFT is a practicing psychotherapist in Marin County, Ca. She worked in acute care medicine before becoming a marriage family therapist. She was the principle co-therapist for the MAPS sponsored, MDMA assisted psychotherapy study for individuals suffering from anxiety with life-threatening illness. She is also co-therapist in the new Phase 3 study using MDMA assisted psychotherapy for severe PTSD in San Francisco.
Julane’s work with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is unique and is creative to the psychotherapy process using this medicine. She and Phil Wolfson MD, along with others on their team, treat patients with treatment resistant depression, first line depression, anxiety and PTSD. They have created a therapy using the relaxed trance state that Ketamine induces to provide relief of depressive symptoms, insight into individual processing of core issues and transformation. They also work with the transformative state incurred with IM Ketamine.
She and Dr. Wolfson have recently founded a non-profit, Ketamine Research Foundation, whose mission is to provide training for practitioners, collect data to track outcomes with Ketamine therapy, starting a new protocol for using KAP for those diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and those in palliative and hospice care. The foundation will also provide financial assistance for those who cannot afford Ketamine treatment. Julane is also co-founder of the Ketamine Training Center. She has helped provide trainings for practitioners wanting to learn the art and science of KAP. they have conducted experiential trainings around the country.
Julane has a passionate interest in understanding trauma, its impact on the mind and body, and in stimulating the healing process.
Board officer for Ketamine Research Foundation
Research in outcomes for KAP
Phase 2 and phase 3 –Co-therapist FDA trial for MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy for Severe PTSD
Co-Therapist and co-founder of CTP
Papers and research:
1.MDMA for Anxiety with Life Threatening Illness
2.Outcomes for 3 Practices using KAP
3. Ketamine and Lactation research – pre-publishment
1. Research study using ketamine protocol for end-of-life anxiety
2. Developing a postpartum study after research on levels of ketamine in breast milk in lactating mothers
3. Researching methods using low dose ketamine for anxiety.
Jesse Gould
Founder & President - Heroic Hearts Project
Phil Wolfson MD
Phil Wolfson MD is the creator of a new psychotherapy modality based on use of the medicine ketamine—Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP). Phil is the CEO of the non-profit Ketamine Research Foundation and directs the training of KAP practitioners through The Ketamine Training Center—now numbering over 300 practitioners across the US and Internationally. He is the author of The Ketamine Papers and Noe – A Father/Son Song of Love, Life, Illness and Death. He has been the Principal Investigator of the recently completed MAPS.org Phase 2 study of MDMA treatment for individuals with life-threatening illnesses. Dr. Wolfson’s work is the result of an intense, now many decades long clinical psychiatry/psychotherapy practice. He is a Founder of Progressive Therapeutics Inc and CEO of the newly formed Awakened Medicine Foundation, a non-profit incubator for psychedelic medicines and their applications.
Phil Wolfson is a sixties activist, psychiatrist/psychotherapist, writer, practicing Buddhist and psychonaut who has lived in the Bay Area for 43 years.. In the 1980s, he participated in clinical research with MDMA (Ecstasy). He has created 7 patents for unique herbal medicines and ketamine. Phil was a founding member of the Heffter Research Institute. He is a journalist and author of numerous articles on politics, transformation, psychedelics, consciousness and spirit.
He is a graduate of Brandeis University and NYU School of Medicine
Daniel Carcillo
Founder Wesana Health
Steven L. Mandel M.D.
Steven L. Mandel, M.D. is the founder and president of Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles, a world-renowned Ketamine Clinic in Los Angeles, CA. KCLA was among the first clinics to open in the United States in early 2014. Dr. Mandel is a pioneer and national expert in the treatment of depression, suicidality and PTSD with ketamine infusion therapy. He is also a founding member and the first president of the American Society of Ketamine Physicians, Psychotherapists, and Practitioners (ASKP3) and is an active member of the board. Dr. Mandel is board-certified in anesthesiology and holds a master’s degree in psychology.
As an internationally-recognized expert in the use of ketamine for depression, suicidality, PTSD, and chronic pain conditions, Dr. Mandel has appeared on television, radio, podcasts, and in numerous publications including: CBS, PBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, The Doctors, BuzzFeed, VICE, Inc Magazine, Wired, LA Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and many others. He has administered over 10,500 infusions to over 2,500 patients since opening Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles in early 2014.
Dr. Mandel completed his undergraduate education at New York University, earned a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Cincinnati Graduate School, attended medical school at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and completed his post-graduate medical education at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of California Los Angeles.When he isn’t caring for patients, Dr. Mandel enjoys spending time with his wife of 35 years, their four children, and their dog Magellan. He can also be found captaining a sailboat or skiing the peaks of a mountain near you.
Adam Bramlage
Founder and CEO - Flow State Micro
Abid Nazeer
Dr. Nazeer is a practicing psychiatrist with board certifications in both Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. As the Chief Medical Officer for a national comprehensive Opioid Treatment Program, Symetria Recovery, he oversees 15 facilities scattered throughout the United States. In 2016, he established Advanced Psychiatric Solutions (APS Ketamine), pioneering the first dedicated outpatient psychiatric based ketamine clinic in the Midwest. APS Ketamine, with locations in Oak Brook, IL, and downtown Chicago, has successfully completed over 2500 IV Ketamine infusions. Offering a wide array of services, APS Ketamine provides pharmacogenetic testing, psychiatric medication management, neurocognitive testing, IV Ketamine, and intranasal esketamine.
Dr. Nazeer currently spearheads a research study evaluating the effects of Ketamine on Neurocognition. As one of the early members of the American Society of Ketamine Physicians, Practitioners, and Psychotherapists (ASKP3), he is actively involved within the organization. Dr. Nazeer is a speaker in the fields of addiction, ketamine therapy, and pharmacogenetics, both locally and nationally. He has held medical director and leadership positions in various healthcare settings, beginning with his training at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, LA, when he was elected Chief Resident. Dr. Nazeer then went on to lead the PTSD clinic at Overton Brooks VA Medical Center for a year, before moving on to private group practices and hospital work. A native of Illinois, he was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and currently resides there with his wife and twins.
