Our founders were clinical participants in NYU & Johns Hopkins studies.

Mimi is a former U.S. Representative from California’s 45th Congressional District. As a member of House leadership, she served on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She worked on key legislation, business and policy initiatives related to technology, energy, environmental and healthcare, including the opioid crisis and veterans’ medical services.

Jon was the first study participant to complete a randomized controlled trial studying psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) for alcohol use disorder at New York University. Jon credits PAT with curing his treatment-resistant alcoholism and saving his life. His mission is to make this same treatment available to those in need. Jon launched the Apollo Pact, a patient advocacy organization raising awareness and advancing psychedelic science.

Jon was interviewed by Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes, Harry Smith for NBC’s TODAY Show, Nightly News with Lester Holt, Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist, and Michael Pollan for How to Change Your Mind. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fox, CBS, NBC, CNN, TIME Magazine, Oprah Daily, New York Post, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, among other national outlets.

Cara is a physician treating substance use disorders.

Dr. George R. Greer is the Board Chair, former Medical Director and a Co-Founder of the Heffter Research Institute. During the Institute’s 28-year history, he supervised the scientific review of all of Heffter’s research studies into the mechanisms of action and clinical applications of MDMA, psilocybin and other classic psychedelic drugs. To date, almost 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications have resulted from Heffter’s financial support.

The most significant projects wholly funded by Heffter have been all three studies of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for depression and anxiety in cancer patients. Those projects led to the Usona Institute receiving FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation of psilocybin treatment for Major Depression. Usona is now in the final research stages to gain FDA approval of psilocybin for that medical indication.

Heffter’s current primary research focus is psilocybin-assisted therapy for addictions. Two pilot studies in the treatment of Alcohol and Tobacco Use Disorders have been published, and placebo-controlled clinical trials for those are in their final stages at Johns Hopkins University and New York University, respectively.

Heffter is currently funding two studies of psilocybin for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder at the University of Wisconsin and a study of LSD for opioid abuse in patients with chronic back pain at Johns Hopkins. It has helped fund the current placebo-controlled clinical trial of psilocybin for cocaine addiction at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and is in the planning stages for a study at the University of New Mexico of psilocybin treatment for methamphetamine addiction, which is growing.

In addition to those addiction-related projects, Heffter has also been funding research at Yale University on psilocybin treatment for Major Depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Cluster Headache, and for depressed terminally ill patients in palliative care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard University.

Heffter has spent almost $15 million in its entire history funding research, including virtually all of the psilocybin research in the US and much of the psilocybin research in Switzerland, all through private donations. At this stage, psychedelic treatment research cannot progress without major support from the National Institutes of Health, which has expressed interest in such research in a recent Congressional hearing.

In addition to his role at Heffter, Dr. Greer conducted around 100 MDMA-assisted therapeutic sessions when MDMA was a legal adjunct to psychotherapy circa 1980, and published the first group study of the therapeutic use of that drug.

Dr. Greer is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Past President of the Psychiatric Medical Association of New Mexico, serving as its Legislative Representative for several years. He was also the Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for the New Mexico Corrections Department during the 1990s.

Dr. Holly S. Andersen is the Director of Education and Outreach for The Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at The New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she is an Attending Cardiologist and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine. She is additionally the Medical Advisor to the Women’s Heart Alliance.

Holly Andersen graduated Dartmouth College cum laude as the Ernest T. Saeger Memorial Scholar. She graduated with Honors from the University of Rochester School of Medicine where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and awarded the Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Achievement Award from the American Medical Women’s Association.

Dr. Andersen completed her internship, residency and fellowship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell Medical Center where she additionally served as the Chief Medical Resident. She is dual board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Sports Medicine. She is past director of the Medical School’s cardiac pathophysiology course and founded and chairs the David E. Rogers Memorial Research Award competition for the Department of Medicine. A Visiting Professorship for Integrative Medicine is endowed in her name at the Weill Cornell Medical College. She additionally serves on the Faculty Diversity in Medicine & Science Advisory Committee and the Women’s Leadership Council.

Castle Connolly and New York Magazine have selected Dr. Andersen as one of America’s and New York’s Best Doctors every year since 2010. She speaks extensively on preventive cardiology, cardiovascular disease in athletes and in women. She has been an on-air medical consultant to ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Evening News, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Fox Television Network, The Fox News Channel, The British Broadcasting Company, and MTV.

Dr. Andersen serves on the Board of Trustees for Rockefeller University, the Board of Overseers for the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Dr. Hendricks’ research centers on the development of novel and potentially more effective treatments for substance use disorders and comorbid conditions, with specific areas of focus on tobacco, cocaine, cannabis, opiate, and polysubstance dependence in vulnerable populations, including individuals in the criminal justice system. He has been an active researcher in the psychedelic field since 2014, publishing population studies suggesting psychedelics may be effective in preventing and treating substance use, criminal recidivism, and psychological distress, among other outcomes, as well as a number of systemic reviews and theoretical pieces. He is currently Principal Investigator of a pilot trial of psilocybin-facilitated psychotherapy in the treatment cocaine dependence, psilocybin-facilitated psychotherapy in the treatment of fibromyalgia, and low doses or “microdoses” of psilocybin in the treatment of demoralization. Dr. Hendricks is also site PI of a NIDA-funded study of psilocybin for smoking cessation. Dr. Hendricks service as Editor-in-Chief of Psychedelic Medicine.

Mr. Connor is President of Charles D Connor, LLC, a consultancy firm offering strategy building and communications services, and former president of the U.S. Navy Public Affairs Association. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Connor was President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Lung Association National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Prior to becoming CEO, Mr. Connor was the Lung Association's Chief Operating Officer, where he managed the day-to-day operations and led the strategic planning and positioning of the more than one-hundred year-old public health voluntary organization. Before joining the Lung Association, Mr. Connor served five years in the position of Senior Vice President for Communication and Marketing with the American National Red Cross, where he led all internal, external and stakeholder communication and marketing efforts including market research, advertising, events management, entertainment outreach and internet communications. Prior to the Red Cross, Mr. Connor was Principal for Client Strategy with The Dilenschneider Group in Chicago, specializing in communications strategy development, litigation support, crisis control, issues management and media relations.  Mr. Connor also served as the first director of Public Affairs for the Federal Judiciary in Washington, D.C., and he spent 25 years as a U.S. Navy public affairs officer, leaving the service with the rank of Captain.

A native of Chicago, Mr. Connor graduated from Loyola University of Chicago Law School and is a member of the bar of both Illinois and the District of Columbia.  He holds a B. A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois and attended Portland State University for graduate study in marketing and communications.  Mr. Connor is a past member of the board of directors of the American Marketing Association Foundation, the American Judicature Society and the Stars & Stripes newspaper.  He has testified before Congressional committees and addressed such distinguished groups as the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, the Dallas Rotary Club, the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and the Aspen Institute.

Lenny Barshack is a futurist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He has been creating transformative technologies and organizations for over 25 years that have generated over 4 billion in market value. He has worked in varied fields including the internet, finance, gaming, and biotechnology; the common theme being disrupting technologies that introduce a new market approach. Since 2018 he has been focused on Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and its ability to transform mental health. In 2010 he co-founded AOBiome.com exploring the skin’s biome, specifically the importance of restoring ammonia oxidizing bacteria to improve overall health and immune response. In 2002 he co-founded and chaired Tribeca Tables, the largest white labeled online poker room in the world, hosting over 300 brands and spanning over 20 countries, generating over $120 million in gross annual revenue when it was sold 4 years later in 2006. In 1995 he co-founded and chaired Bigfoot International, Inc., along with its three internet subsidiaries (Bigfoot.com, BigfootInteractive.com, Neoplanet.com). The companies were pioneers in online branding, customer retention, email marketing, and scalable client/server technologies supporting tens of millions of simultaneous users. From 1990-95 Barshack was Director, Head of Proprietary Trading for Smith New Court, the largest equity market maker on the LSE. He co-built and managed a global proprietary trading, derivatives trading, and derivatives sales organization from scratch. From 1980-90 he held several positions at Salomon Brothers, Recreationally Lenny is an avid gamer, skilled poker player, and solid intermediate skier. He considers himself very lucky to be married to Erin for over 30 years.