Talks

Possibilities and Pitfalls: The Past, Present, and Future of Psychedelics in Mental Health Therapies

Dr William (Bill) A. Richards is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the psychology of psychedelics and religious experience. A psychologist in the Psychiatry Department of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, his career spans more than six decades of research into the profound effects of psychedelic substances on human consciousness, healing, and spiritual life. 

Holding advanced degrees in both psychology and theology, Dr Richards has long been drawn to the intersection of the two disciplines. His early formation included study with Abraham Maslow at Brandeis University, and with Hanscarl Leuner at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, where his involvement in psilocybin research began in 1963. Returning to the United States, he joined NIMH-funded research in 1967, helping to develop protocols exploring the promise of psychedelic substances in the treatment of depression, addiction, and the psychological distress of terminal illness. 

When political pressures brought psychedelic research to a halt across the US and much of Europe, Dr Richards remained, by his own description, the last person to leave a sinking ship. He proved equally committed to its resurgence: in 1999, alongside Roland Griffiths at Johns Hopkins, he helped relaunch psilocybin research after more than two decades of inactivity. His book Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences (Columbia University Press, 2015), now translated into four languages, remains a landmark text in the field. 

Dr. Gerasimos Konstantinou is an Interventional Psychiatrist at the Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Centre for Depression at the University Health Network (UHN). He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. After completing his psychiatry residency in Greece, he pursued fellowship training at the University of Toronto, where he developed specialized expertise in advanced brain stimulation therapies.

Dr. Konstantinou's clinical and research work focuses on interventional psychiatric treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and psychedelic-assisted therapies. He currently leads and contributes to clinical studies in Interventional Psychiatry, with a particular focus on psychedelics as transformative emerging treatments for people living with treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders.

His research investigates the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these therapies, how they affect the brain, and why they hold promise for those who have not responded to conventional treatments. Dr. Konstantinou is deeply committed to translating cutting-edge psychiatric science into real-world impact and to expanding access to innovative care for those who need it most.

A graduate of Columbia University, Colin Fleming collaborates with experts across the Museum to write everything from ad copy to magazine stories. He also developed the initial concept for the ROM-original exhibition Psychedelics: Art. Culture. Science. with Dr. Justin Jennings. 

His writing has appeared in Toronto Life, The Daily Beast, and CBC Comedy, among others.