Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A clinician’s perspective

Colleen Loo is a psychiatrist, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Fellow and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and the Black Dog Institute, Sydney; Australia. She is an internationally recognised clinical expert and researcher in the fields of electroconvulsive therapy, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and ketamine, and led the first Australian RCTs of these interventions in depression. She has published over 300 peer reviewed papers and has received competitive grant funding from the Australian NHMRC, MRFF and major overseas grant funding agencies.
 
Prof Loo is active in ECT, Neurostimulation and novel treatments research, practice and policy, providing advice to Australian government health departments, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and several  international guidelines. She was President of the International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation (ISEN) 2018-2020. She has served on the Editorial Boards of the two leading international brain stimulation journals: Journal of ECT, Brain Stimulation. She directs professional training courses in ECT, TMS, tDCS and ketamine. 

Nigel Strauss is a psychiatrist in private practice and senior consultant with St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, an investigator on several psychedelic clinical trials, and is on the scientific advisory board of the European Mind Foundation. He has made his own philanthropic donation to Monash University for a trial of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. He has a long interest in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy and has been a co-author of several published papers on psychedelic therapy.

Dr. Justin Dwyer is a psychiatrist and head of unit for Psychosocial Cancer Care at St Vincent’s. Hospital Melbourne. He is Principal Investigator and member of lead therapy dyad (with Dr Margaret Ross) in the psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy trial at St Vincent’s, Melbourne. Along with Dr Ross, he has trained therapists across 3 clinical trials nationally across a range of mental health conditions and works in other trials investigating novel psychedelic compounds. He has strong views on the central importance of highly skilled and appropriately credentialed psychotherapy within the PAT paradigm. 

He has specialised in the provision of care at the intersection of physical and mental health and is particularly focused on providing psychological care to people dealing with profoundly troubling circumstances, such as serious illness and dying. He has published on various topics including on suicide in the medically ill and in Covid-19 patients, art therapy in palliative care, and the experience of music used with psychedelic therapy. 

Dr Elizabeth Moore is the President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

Dr Moore was born in Malaya, educated in England and Australia, completing her undergraduate medical degree at the University of Adelaide before attaining Fellowship of the RANZCP in 1990.  She has special interests in codesign and governance of mental health services as well as the social and cultural determinants of health and wellbeing and their influence through a systems thinking lens.
 
Dr Moore has worked in both public and private hospital and community settings, holding clinical and administrative positions in psychiatry in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia and is the inaugural ACT Coordinator-General of the Office of Mental Health and Wellbeing.
 
Elizabeth has been active in RANZCP activities for many years, including as the Chair of the Western Australian Branch Committee, and as a member of the Corporate Governance and Risk Committee, Members Advisory Council, Committee for Continuing Medical Education, and the Committee for Examinations. Elizabeth has also been involved in educational activities through examining and sitting on assessment and examination sub-committees.

Dr Moore initially joined the Board in May 2019 as a Casual Vacancy Director for a 12-month term and was elected to the Board in June 2020. Dr Moore was elected to the role of President Elect for a two-year term, during which time she chaired the Members’ Advisory Council and Audit Committee. Dr Moore assumed the role of President of the RANZCP in May 2023 for a two-year term.

Dr Elizabeth Moore can be contacted via president@ranzcp.org