ALTEREDSTATES 2025: Tufts and Suffolk Psychedelic Research Conference
As psychedelic medicine emerges from decades of prohibition into a new era of clinical legitimacy, we stand at a critical juncture where Indigenous traditions meet cutting-edge neuroscience. This interdisciplinary conference brings together leading voices from anthropology, medicine, psychology, religion, and the arts to explore how diverse ways of knowing can inform the responsible integration of psychedelic therapies into modern healthcare.
Join us for a day of presentations that traverse the boundaries between laboratory and ceremony, clinic and community. Our distinguished speakers will examine how Indigenous practices inform contemporary therapeutic protocols, how religious traditions shape our understanding of consciousness and healing, and how principles of harm reduction learned from ceremonial contexts can guide clinical applications.
Featured Speakers Include:
nate greenslit, PhD, Berklee College of Music
Jenna Clukey, Massachusetts General Hospital
Andrea Sánchez-Castañeda, PhD, Center for World Religions at Harvard University
Daniel A. Brenner, MD Cambridge Biotherapeutics
Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, PhD, Sachamama Center for BioCultural Regeneration
Carolina Haass-Koffler, PharmD, PhD, Brown University
Chloe Jordan, PhD, Boston University
Maha Mian, PhD, Suffolk University
Featured Topics Include:
Current clinical trials and their implications for treatment protocols
Indigenous knowledge systems and their contributions to therapeutic and restorative justice practices
Religious and spiritual dimensions of psychedelic healing
Community-based harm reduction models and their clinical applications
Clinical trial progress on psilocybin as a therapeutic for irritable bowel syndrome
and more TBA!
This gathering offers a unique opportunity to engage with the multifaceted nature of psychedelic medicine, honoring both scientific rigor and Indigenous wisdom as we collectively navigate the path toward culturally informed therapeutic practices.
Reserve your seat today. Limited spots available.
Schedule
10AM - 10:30AM: Breakfast & Networking
10:30AM - 10:45AM: Opening Remarks
10:45AM - 11:15AM: Discovering Control and Controlling Substances: Making Mushrooms Work as Psychiatric Drugs
11:15AM - 11:45AM: Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
11:45AM - 12PM: Coffee Break
12PM - 12:30PM: Ethical Praxis in Indigenous Plant Medicine Research
12:30PM - 1PM: Ketamine, Psychedelics, and Psychotherapy: Do psychedelics open therapeutic possibilities beyond classical methods?
1PM - 1:45PM: LUNCH
1:45PM - 2:30PM: Keynote Speaker, Healing the Internal and External Landscape
2:30PM - 3PM: Neural Mechanisms driving MDMA-Assisted Therapy Response
3PM - 3:15PM: Coffee Break
3:15PM - 3:45PM: Teaching on the Neuroscience of Psychedelic Experiences
3:45PM - 4:15PM: Preliminary findings from community-based, ethnographic investigation of safety among US-based psychedelic churches communities
4:15PM - 4:45PM: Career Panel
4:45PM - 5PM: Closing Remarks
5PM - 6PM: Open Networking & Mingling
Courtesy of the Tufts Anthropology, Biology, Psychology, Environmental Studies, Religion departments; Buddhist, COFFEE and Humanist Clubs; Tufts Tisch Fund, and the SAHAR Lab at Suffolk University, tickets are free and lunch is included!