Dr. Claudio Soares

Director

Dr. Claudio Soares is a physician, researcher, and educator with over 25 years of experience in mental health and women’s health. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at Queen’s University and Director of the Centre for Psychedelics Health and Research, leading innovative clinical research and knowledge dissemination initiatives. He also serves as Regional Clinical Co-Lead for Mental Health and Addictions at Ontario Health East and is President of The Menopause Society, a global organization dedicated to advancing women’s health at midlife and beyond. His expertise spans mood disorders, reproductive psychiatry, menopause, clinical trials, mobile health technologies, psychedelics research, and health innovation.

Dr. Cassandra Sgarbossa

Clinical Researcher

Cassandra Sgarbossa is a clinical researcher and consultant for the Centre for Psychedelics Health and Research (CPHR). She completed her PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at Queen’s University, where her work largely focused on novel interventions for mood disorders and the relationship between gut health and depression. She is involved with the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CAN-BIND) organization, which aims to deliver fast and effective care to all Canadians living with depression, and is passionate about research innovation towards precision medicine within mental healthcare.

Dr. Evan Forth

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Evan Forth completed his BScH in Life Sciences and completed his PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at Queen’s University. His doctoral research focused on the psychological and physiological effects of gut microbiome therapeutics in the context of depression. He is interested in novel psychiatric treatments and will be completing a postdoctoral fellowship with the CPHR. During his fellowship, he plans to explore the impact of childhood maltreatment on psychedelic assisted therapies.

Dr. Ron Shore

Scientific Advisor

Dr. Ronald (Ron) Shore is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University and the (Interim) Assistant Scientific Director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Research in Kingston, Ontario. Ron is the founder of Kingston’s Street Health Centre, a community health centre for people facing multiple barriers to health including complex addiction, mental health, trauma and homelessness. He has thirty-five years experience in addictions and mental health. Ron’s PhD is specific to the clinical application of psilocybin, he is faculty in the Michener Institute’s Foundations of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy program, an investigator and clinical trial therapist in psychedelic trials, the co-Principal Investigator of the Canadian Network for Psilocybin-assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT) and a consultant advisor to the Centre for Psychedelics Health and Research at Providence Care.

Nick Preenan

Master’s Student

Previous experience as a research assistant at the Canadian Centre for Psychedelic Science (University of Toronto), during which I was a member among a team of highly specialized scholars and key professionals in the field examining the cognitive, emotional and behavioural effects of microdosing psilocybin in those with major depressive disorder. Currently, I’m working for a psychedelics-based research collaborative that is stationed out of Ireland/Costa Rica. Within the Centre for Psychedelic Health & Research at Queen’s University, my current thesis work investigates the potential neural correlates of psilocybin treatment efficacy using EEG in those diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (first study of its kind), under the world-class tutelage of Dr. Claudio Soares and Dr. Ron Shore. 

Dr. Elena Koning

Knowledge Translation Scientist

Elena Koning is a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University. Her research interests include the investigation of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of eating disorders. As the creator of two science communication podcasts and author of several science journalism pieces, Elena is passionate about accessible and evidence-based knowledge dissemination. At CPHR, Elena has developed a knowledge translation program that includes a monthly journal club, a dedicated podcast series, and other educational initiatives.