Dr. Paul Liknaitzky and I both work (okay, I study) in the same building at Monash University and are both part of the School of Psychological Sciences but that’s where the similarities end. Unlike me, Paul is an actual academic doing ground-breaking research, while I’m fumbling my way through my second year of PhD student life (thanks to the awesome team at @brainparkmonash). Paul is head of the Psychedelic Research Group at Monash, Chief Principal Investigator, Research Fellow and has Adjunct or Honorary appointments at St Vincent’s Hospital, Macquarie University, Deakin University, and the University of Melbourne. He’s also Principal Investigator across a number of Australia’s first clinical psychedelic trials. Paul is currently establishing a rigorous program of research in psychedelic medicine at Monash that seeks to evaluate therapeutic effects, innovate on treatment design, mitigate known risks, explore potential drawbacks and understand therapeutic mechanisms. This was a fascinating episode, he’s a fascinating bloke and I loved our chat. Enjoy. *FYI.. BrainPark (where I’m based) is a world-first neuroscience research clinic dedicated to creating better outcomes for people with compulsive behaviours; from unhealthy habits through to addictions and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
