Director
Fadel Zeidan, PhD | Contact
|
Laboratory Director, Dr. Fadel Zeidan, is a Professor of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego's Center for Pain Medicine. Fadel is a Co-Founder and Neuroscience Director of the newly formed UCSD Center for Psychedelic Research. He is also an Endowed Professor of Compassion Research at the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. Fadel is also a Co-Founder and Executive Committee member of the International Society for Contemplative Research. His research is focused on determining the active mechanisms that mediate the relationship between self-regulatory practices and health. In particular, Fadel's research examines the neural mechanisms supporting the modulation of pain and health by mindfulness meditation and placebo. He is also dedicated to understanding how psychedelics like psilocybin, DMT and cannabis impact pain-related behavioral and neural processes. His research program has recently expanded to appreciate how empathy and compassion can be cultivated through self-regulatory practices and psychedelic therapies. His work has also been featured in traditional media outreach (CNN; NPR; Time Magazine, CBS and others), Tedx and personally presented his work to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Mongolia. Fadel was also awarded the 2014 National Institutes of Health Mitchell Max Award for Research Excellence. Fadel's free time is consumed with quality hang time with his family, ideally swimming in the Pacific Ocean and eating his way through San Diego.
|
Clinical Trial Program Manager
Yasmeen Esshaki
Yasmeen is a native San Diegan who earned a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of San Diego and a M.A. in Medical Anthropology from Creighton University. Yasmeen has worked in clinical research for ten years, serving as a Project Manager or Primary Coordinator on over 100 clinical trials. Her expertise is in conducting and managing clinical trials in compliance with the study protocol, IRB, ICH/GCP, and FDA. She has worked on Phase I - IV industry, government, and privately funded clinical trials in a range of medical specialties and disease types. As a Clinical Trial Program Manager for the Zeidan Lab, Yasmeen manages several research studies/clinical trials to ensure study activity is conducted in accordance with corresponding governing bodies and deliverable are met on time and within budget. On her spare time, Yasmeen loves to travel and experience other cultures and traditions, food, language, architecture, etc. She also owns a charcuterie business, Across The Board - born out of her love for food, cooking, and culture. She enjoys intimate concert venues, loves being in the mountains, and spending time with the people she loves.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Jon Dean, PhD | Contact |
Morgan Gianola, PhD |
|
Jon has a B.A. in Chemistry, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Michigan. Jon's Ph.D. work in rodent models demonstrated the natural presence of the psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in the mammalian brain at concentrations comparable to major neurotransmitters such as serotonin. Jon joined the Zeidan laboratory in late 2020 to undergo clinical neuroscience training as a postdoctoral fellow. Jon's research focuses on the overlap of psychedelics and mind-body interventions for treatment of chronic pain and comorbidities across multiple fMRI studies on psilocybin and mindfulness meditation. Jon is also the director of the DMT Research Program within UCSD's Center for Psychedelic Research, who alongside Dr. Zeidan will soon launch clinical studies on continuous intravenous infusions of DMT. When he's not #sciencing, Jon likes to hike with his floof ball Siberian husky, enjoy a craft beer or six, play some guitar, and slowly, slowy, slowly learn to surf.
|
Morgan received a B.A. in neuroscience and Spanish before beginning graduate training in the Social and Cultural Neuroscience Lab at the University of Miami. His PhD research investigated differences in the perceptual and neural processing of pain in English and Spanish contexts among healthy Hispanic/Latino bilinguals. After obtaining his PhD in cognitive neuroscience in 2022, he began work as a Postdoctoral Scholar for Behavioral Medicine Research in Cardiovascular Diseases, investigating the roles played by language and culture in health behaviors and disease prevalence in participants of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Morgan joined the Zeidan lab as a postdoctoral scholar in 2024 to transition into clinical research focused on addressing chronic pain through psychedelic therapy and meditative training. Morgan is broadly interested in how perception and well-being are influenced by neurobiological, psychological, and cultural processes and addressing health disparities through the lens of cultural neuroscience.
|
Graduate Students
Ethan Hurwitz, PhD. | Contact
|
Gabriel Riegner | Website | Contact
|
Visiting Scholars
|
|
|
Anita Amorim, PhD
Dr. Anita Amorim is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Sydney, Australia. She completed her PhD in Health Sciences in 2018 and a 1-year postdoctoral fellowship in Public Health, also at the University of Sydney. Dr. Amorim's research focuses on innovative approaches to managing chronic pain, particularly through mindfulness-based interventions and health coaching to promote lifestyle behavioral change. She is currently undertaking a Special Studies Program as a visiting scholar at UCSD, collaborating with Prof. Zeidan to contribute to research on the effects and underlying mechanisms of self-regulatory approaches like mindfulness meditation and natural product-assisted therapies such as cannabis for pain relief. When she is not working, Anita enjoys practicing yoga, meditation, spending time at the beach, playing drums, and hiking.
|
Louis Loteryman
Louis is a third-year BSc Neuroscience student at Cardiff University. He is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying compassion, mindfulness, and psychedelic therapy, and how these areas of research can contribute to developing more effective treatments for mental health disorders like anxiety and depression. In his free time, Louis enjoys surfing, making music, and playing tennis
|
Research Volunteers
Ekrayyem Kanj
Ekrayyem Kanj is a 3rd-year undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego, where he is majoring in General Biology. Following the completion of his undergraduate degree, he hopes to attend medical school and pursue a career as a physician in the field of anesthesiology. His ambition is to contribute significantly to the betterment of society by providing medical care, a vocation he regards as the most impactful means of aiding and uplifting individuals. Beyond his academic and career pursuits, he loves various outdoor activities, such as hiking and beach outings, and enjoys engaging in social activities, like trips to amusement parks with friends and family.
Arwynn Mckinty
Arwynn is a fourth-year student at UCSD majoring in cognitive psychology and minoring in philosophy. She is currently assisting on the phantom limb pain study. She is fascinated by understanding the neural mechanisms of consciousness and how psychedelic therapy can treat mental and physical pain. She is currently completing her honors thesis on the relationship between self-compassion, depression, and psilocybin-assisted therapy. Arwynn plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology to further understand psychopharmacology and to help people in the future. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, reading, learning about neuroscience, and being in nature.
|
Birana Farrell
Briana is a Post-Bacc Research Assistant and BIPOC Advocacy Representative at the UCSD Center for Psychedelic Research. She is interested in using psychedelic therapy to explore the mechanisms behind compassion and empathy and learn about how they may inspire prosocial action. Briana is passionate about promoting Indigenous reciprocity and taking action towards equity and social justice for women, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC practitioners, scholars, and storytellers in the psychedelic space. During her free time, Briana likes to go hiking or paddle boarding, do yoga, and paint.
Alexandra Kremer
Alexandra Kremer is a third year undergraduate student at UCSD with a specialization in cognitive psychology. She previously worked in Stephan Anagnostaras’s lab assisting graduate students in the development of a PTSD model in mice to study memory functions involved during the prescription of MDMA. Her interests include psychology, meditation, psychedelic research and psychedelic anthropology. In the future she hopes to continue combining her fascination for neuropsychology research and psychedelic science to develop treatments that help those suffering from various mental conditions.
|
|
|
|
Kaitlyn Madrigal
|
Greg Perello
|
|
Kaitlyn recently graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology. Kaitlyn is passionate about the emerging field of psychedelic therapy and medicine, as well as exploring its potential to improve mental health and well-being. Outside the lab, she is working as a medical assistant in an oncology office, with aspirations to become a Physician Assistant specializing in neurology. In her free time, Kaitlyn enjoys hiking, traveling, baking, and spending time with her family in the Bay Area.
|
Greg received his BS in neuroscience at ASU and is planning to pursue a PhD in cognitive science. His interest in studying cognition rests on playing with the idea of "putting consciousness on a graph." While he is fascinated with the ethereal realms of meditation, psychedelics, and spirituality, his focus is to develop empirically sound frameworks through which they can be understood in a rationally grounded way. Before pursuing academia, he played semi-professionally in a death metal band for 10 years, taught krav maga and guitar, and studied history and politics.
|
|
|
|
Suqi Jiang
|
Jeff Best
|
|
Suqi is an Honors student in Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, where he specializes in clinical and social psychology. His research focuses on themes such as stereotypes and mindfulness. Suqi has previously presented his research on Jealousy in Romantic Relationships at the Western Psychology Association Conference in San Francisco and is a co-author on an upcoming paper about self-regulated learning strategies for engineering students. This work highlights his ability to apply psychological principles across different disciplines. In his leisure time, Suqi enjoys cooking, listening to music, and playing video games.
|
Jeffrey Best is a University of San Diego graduate with a BA in psychology. He has previously studied the effects of psilocybin on depression and is currently pursuing a career in research. In the future, he hopes to use psychedelic research to create more effective treatments for various mental health disorders. In his free time, Jeff enjoys running, skating, and playing pickle ball.
|