Robin Carhart-Harris

Carhart-Harris was born in Durham, grew up in Bournemouth,[7] and took a BSc in Applied Psychology and Computing at Bournemouth University from 2001 to 2004.[8] The following year, he moved to Brunel University and earned an MSc in Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Society.[9] Between 2005 and 2009, he took his doctorate, focused on the psychopharmacology of the serotonin system, with David Nutt at the University of Bristol.[1][10] When Nutt moved to Imperial College London, Carhart-Harris joined him there in 2008,[11] and they have been regular collaborators on the use of psychoactive drugs in treating a variety of psychiatric disorders.[7][12]

In 2014, while at Imperial, Carhart-Harris became the first scientist in 40 years to test the effects of LSD legally on human volunteers.[7] In 2016, his team published promising findings from "the world's first modern research trial investigating the impact of psilocybin" on 19 patients with treatment-resistant depression.[13][14] The study showed a decrease in symptoms of depression for at least three weeks.[15] Three years later, he founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College, the first of its kind in the world, and remained its head for the next two years.[9] In 2021, Carhart-Harris relocated to the United States when he was appointed Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor and Director of the Neuroscape Psychedelics Division in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco.[1][16]

Robin Carhart-Harris (standing) prepares an fMRI brain scan of writer Michael Pollan at Imperial College London in 2019

Carhart-Harris is noted for brain imaging studies and clinical trials of drugs such as LSD, psilocybin (the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms), MDMA (ecstasy), and DMT (the psychoactive substance in ayahuasca) for treating psychiatric disorders,[1][7] particularly treatment-resistant depression.[17][18][19] His research has also compared the effectiveness of psychedelic drugs against conventional SSRI drug treatments for depression.[20][21] He has predicted that this type of research will "cross over into the mental health mainstream... as support for the use of psychedelics in medicine continues to gain momentum".[22][23]

Scientific study of psychedelic drugs was effectively halted in the early 1970s when the 1970 US Controlled Substances Act and 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances made substances such as LSD illegal across much of the world.[24] Along with other academic researchers such as Roland R. Griffiths and Matthew W. Johnson of Johns Hopkins University, Robin Carhart-Harris is one of a growing number of scientists credited with rekindling interest in the field.[25][26]

In 2008, Carhart-Harris earned the Bristol-Cardiff Young Neuroscientist Award. He won the 2018 Association for Behavior Analysis International B F Skinner award.[8] In 2020, The Times named him one of the world's top 31 medical scientists.[5] TIME magazine included him in its "100 Next" list of 100 people likely to make history in 2021.[6]

Carhart-Harris has been a scientific advisor to the Australian and UK governments and the European Medical Agency.[8] He also works as a scientific adviser to numerous pharmaceutical companies.[27][28]

Carhart-Harris is married with two children.[8]

• Official website