Spero M. Manson, Ph.D. (Little Shell Chippewa) is Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, directs the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, and occupies the Colorado Trust Chair in American Indian Health within the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Center. His programs include 10 national centers, which pursue research, program development, training, and collaboration with 225 Native communities, spanning rural, reservation, urban, and village settings across the country. 

A medical anthropologist, Dr. Manson has acquired $293 million in sponsored research to support this work and published 280+ articles on the assessment, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of physical, alcohol, drug, as well as mental health problems over the developmental life span of Native people. He has served on the National Advisory Councils of 3 institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and recently completed a 4-year term as a member of its Advisory Committee to the Director. 

Dr. Manson sits on the Health Equity Advisory Committee of Health Affairs, and recently served on the search committee for Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Over the course of his 45-year career, Dr. Manson has mentored more than 150 young scientists, most American Indian or Alaska Native, many of whom now occupy major positions of scientific leadership. His numerous awards include the American Public Health Association’s Rema Lapouse Mental Health Epidemiology Award (1998) and Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Mental Health (2019), 4 special recognition awards from the Indian Health Service (1985, 1996, 2004, 2011), election to the National Academy of Medicine (2002); 2 Distinguished Mentor Awards from the Gerontological Society of America (2006; 2007), Association of American Colleges of Medicine’s Nickens Award (2006); George Foster Award for Excellence (2006) and Distinguished Career Achievement Award (2020) from the Society for Medical Anthropology, NIH Health Disparities Award for Excellence (2008), Bronislaw Malinowski Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology (2019); Centers for Disease Control Foundation’s Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award (2021), and the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health (2021) from the National Academy of Medicine. He is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s leading authorities in regard to American Indian and Alaska Native health.

Sofia Chavez is a Board-Certified Doctor of Natural Medicine, and Master Herbalist, through the American Naturopathic Medical Association DNM. Doctorate in Ministry/Spiritual Medicine.  She created and trademarked a Unique Model of Indigenous Reiki. She is a member of The International Collaboration of Indigenous Healers, Curanderos, Sanadores y Shamans which originated in Tepotzlan Mexico- University of Morelos. Her dissertation on Traditional Mexican Modalities was published by the Journal of The American Naturopathic Medical Association and selected for presentation at the Indigenous Mental Health Conference in Cairns, Australia in November 2017. Her focus is Community Health, specifically addressing health disparities and access to care for underserved populations. Appointed by Governor Jared Polis and senate confirmed to serve on the Colorado Natural Medicine Board 2023-2025.

Edward MacPhee is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He works both in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings and has interests in working with patients with trauma and incorporating psychotherapy into psychiatric sessions. He is the Medical Director for the CU Medicine Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic, where he works closely with trainees of a wide range of disciplines. Additionally, he is the UCHealth Psychiatry Clinical Director and oversees the hospital-based parts of the Adult Division of the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. MacPhee is also very interested in philosophy and considers himself to be a Spiritual Humanist. As a result, he has a strong interest in spiritual experiences, including those associated with psychedelics, and how they can be best understood and used in clinical settings.

Shannon Hughes is an Associate Professor in Social Work at Colorado State University (CSU) and in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health. She teaches, consults, and conducts research on how we use psychoactive drugs and medicines in our society today, and has been a leader in articulating a uniquely Social Work perspective on the use of prescribed psychoactive drugs for treating mental health problems. At CSU, Dr. Hughes established her research lab, the Alternatives for Mental Health and Healing Lab, that advances holistic, person-centered, and cutting-edge behavioral health alternatives founded in the synthesis of research evidence, innovative thinking, and community partnership. She has secured multiple external grants for community-engaged research that seeks to create practical, real-world impacts on behavioral health systems. Dr. Hughes has developed and delivered education and training to professional social workers, counselors, and the public about ethical psychopharmacology and the field of psychedelics. She is a founding member of The Nowak Society, 501c3, a Colorado-based non-profit providing community education and organizing around psychedelics and drug policy reform. In her private practice, Dr. Hughes blends spirituality with life coaching and psycho-spiritual integration of psychedelic experiences. She has served on the Larimer County Behavioral Health Technical Advisory Committee, the editorial review board for the Community Mental Health Journal and consults on behavioral health and psychedelic advocacy in the legislative and policy arenas.

Sara Lewis, PhD, LCSW is Associate Professor and Director of Training and Research at Naropa University's Center for Psychedelic Studies. She earned her master's degrees from the University of Chicago and her PhD from Columbia University at the Mailman School of Public Health in medical anthropology. Her book "Spacious Minds: Trauma and Resilience in Tibetan Buddhism" (Cornell Univ. Press, 2019) is based on fieldwork she conducted as a Fulbright scholar, which investigates how Buddhist concepts of mind shape traumatic memory and pathways to resilience. Sara has also published research on ayahuasca and spiritual emergencies and specializes in intergenerational trauma and healing. She is a MAPS PBC Level 1 Consultant and provides ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in her private practice in Boulder, CO.

Dori Lewis is a co-founder of Elemental Psychedelics and the owner-operator of Reflective Healing in Fort Collins, CO, a psychotherapy group practice that specializes in psychedelic therapy using ketamine, integration therapy, transpersonal psychotherapy, and providing clinical supervision. To date, she has stewarded nearly 100 ketamine therapy sessions and countless more individual and group ceremonies. Dori is currently in an apprenticeship with a mushroom medicine elder from the Zapotec lineage in Oaxaca, Mexico. She has also received shamanic journey training from Sandra Ingerman and practices this style of altered states work in her clinical practice in Fort Collins. Her clinical background includes having earned two master's degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, in counseling education and psychology.

Wesley Black Elk was born in Nebraska and raised on both Pine Ridge and the Rosebud Indian Reservations in South Dakota. After completing high school, he entered the United States Marine Corps. After completing the military service, he returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation and studied part-time at Sinte Gleska (Spotted Tail) University. In the 1980’s he started public speaking on the Lakota Cultural Way of Life and continues to present throughout the United States at universities and schools and within the public and private sectors. In 1990’s, he was employed by the Nevada Department of Corrections and later moved to Minnesota where he was employed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. After 20 years of service in corrections, he retired. He has two children, Rachel and Remi.

Jon Treem is currently the Medical Director for Palliative Care at Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group.  Prior to this role he was the lead physician of the University of Colorado Palliative Care Clinic where he directed and organized clinic operations and was responsible for the administration of outpatient clinical services to palliative care patients. He completed his undergraduate degree at Yale University in 2004, medical school at Brown University in 2013, and his internal medicine residency and palliative care fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. He works closely with clinicians to maintain and improve the quality of life of patients with serious illness and helps ensure that the medical system honors their values and goals. He is also the founder of Psychedelic Public Policy Partnership – tasked with providing unbiased, empiric, and non-partisan healthcare guidance to lawmakers and legislatures considering psychedelic legalization frameworks. When not at work, his chief hobbies are drinking coffee, toddler wrangling, contemplating existence, and drinking coffee again. Usually in that order.

Natasia Poinsatte is the Colorado State Director of the Healing Advocacy Fund, a nonprofit that works to expand and protect safe, affordable, state-regulated access to psychedelic healing for all who need it. Tasia helped guide the passage of Proposition 122, Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act, as Research Director at the Denver consulting firm RBI Strategies. She has conducted research and advised strategy for successful campaigns in Colorado, across the US, and internationally. Prior to joining RBI, Tasia worked across the public, private and nonprofit sectors in the US, Chile, and Ghana. She holds an MA in International Studies from the University of Denver Josef Korbel School.

Belinda Eriacho is of Dine’ (Navajo) and A:shiwi (Zuni) descent. Her maternal clan is One-Who-Walks-Around and she was born for the Zuni Pueblo people. Her maternal grandparents are from the Black Sheep clan and paternal grandparents from the Zuni clan.

She is the wisdom carrier, healer, and founder of Kaalogii LLC, focused on cultural and traditional teachings, inner healing, and an international speaker on various topics impacting Native American communities in the United States. Belinda holds degrees in Health Sciences, Technology, and Public Health. In addition, she has participated in the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies-MDMA People of Color, Eye Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, and Ketamine Assisted-Therapy Training Programs. Belinda is also co-foundering board member for the Church of the Eagle and the Condor. Her most recent work includes a chapter entitled, “Turning the Soil” in the recently released book, How Psychedelics Can Help Save the World: Visionary & Indigenous Voices Speak Out, edited by Stephen Grey. In addition, she a contributing author to the recently published Psychedelic Justice: Toward a Diverse and Equitable Psychedelic Culture and the author of several articles that are available on charuna.net.

Ingrid Keating, LAc, OTR/L, MSOM, FABAA, Doctoral Candidate, holds a B.S. in Occupational Therapy and a M.S. in Oriental Medicine with a combined B.S. in Nutrition from Midwest College of Oriental Medicine. She is NCCAOM board certified, a licensed Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbalist, Occupational therapist and a WATSU Practitioner. She is also a Fellow and Instructor of Equine Science with the American Board of Animal Acupuncture. In 2023 she co-authored and published The Heart of WATSU Therapeutic Applications in Clinical Practice with WATSU pioneer, Harold Dull. Ingrid integrates over 23 years of clinical experience in Rehabilitative Medicine, Chinese Medicine, trauma and non-ordinary states of consciousness. She has a private practice in Ohio as well as a newly formed integrative team practice at ONE HEART Mental Health Collaborative delivering integrative Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Ingrid has completed training with MAPS in MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD as well as her postgraduate certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy at Naropa University. She will complete her Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) at the Pacific College of Health and Science in Spring of 2024 with a focus in Integrative Medicine and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Ingrid is a former US synchronized swimmer. In her free time, she, her husband and four children enjoy traveling, hiking, being in nature and riding their horses in hunter/jumper show jumping competitions.

Kent Peterson is a recognized leader in preventive, occupational and environmental medicine, mind-body health and wellness. He serves as chief medical officer for Examinetics which tests more than a million workers annually to protect and improve their health. He has designed and evaluated health programs for over a hundred corporations, universities, and professional societies. Previously, Dr. Peterson worked at IBM and American Standard corporations, was Executive Vice President of the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), and Associate Professor at New York University. He has authored/edited 12 books and more than 350 chapters, articles, and scientific presentations.

Kylie House has been swimming in the seeming dualities of traditional and non-traditional methods of healing since adolescence. She first and foremost sees her role on this earth as a student of healing, and when she feels like she has figured enough out, she likes to share her knowledge. Via the Western vantage point, she acquired a medical degree and training as a psychiatrist. She has also gained experience as a certified MDMA therapist and ketamine therapist. More recently, she has acted as Sub-Investigator for a phase 2 trial researching LSD for generalize anxiety disorder, and next she will be acting as Principal Investigator of a 5meo-DMT study for treatment resistant depression. However, just as important in her education has been her relationship and guidance from her uncle, Wesley Black Elk, who is a Lakota medicine man. Ultimately, she takes his wisdom to heart – that healing is healing, no matter how one comes across it.

Selina Keryte is a member of Navajo Nation, is a health science policy analyst in THRO. She uses her extensive experience serving American Indians and Alaska Natives to coordinate work with the NIH Tribal Advisory Committee and develop cultural awareness trainings for NIH staff and extramural researchers. Prior to joining NIH in 2020, Ms. Keryte was the national lead for the Domestic Violence Prevention Program at the Indian Health Service and led efforts to strengthen capacity among the 12 nationally recognized Tribal Epidemiology Centers. She has a M.P.H. from the University of New Mexico.

Ana Medina’s life mission is to help people remember who they are. Her spiritual path started in her early 20’s after she moved from her homeland of Mexico to the U.S. to study music. Her mission became clearer when she was summoned by the plant teachers of the world to give her gift of service to community in a deeper way. Her education spans a wide range of modalities. In addition to being a certified Life Coach, her training includes Sound Healing, Reiki, Pranic Healing, Shadow Work, Quantum Healing, Psych-K and Ho’oponopono. Ana weaves decades of experiential education and curriculum development with the teachings of plant and earth allies in order to co-create The New Paradigm Mystery School. Within this context she guides participants toward reconnecting to their ancestral roots and remembering their true calling.