Clerkenwell Health Taps Top Academics and Expands Pan-European Scientific Advisory Board
Clerkenwell Health announces the addition of Dr David Erritzoe, Dr Dea Siggaard Stenbæk, Dr Kim Kuypers and Dr James Stone to its advisory board from Danish, Dutch and British universities.
By building connections between commercial research organisations and academic institutions, Clerkenwell is on a mission to create a more vibrant psychedelic clinical trial ecosystem and foster wider sharing of best practices across Europe.
With psychedelic companies flourishing in Europe, Clerkenwell Health aims to support the commercial research ecosystem not only in the UK but more widely in Europe. These new additions to the advisory board better places Clerkenwell Health to support drug developers wishing to conduct trials in European countries.
Chaired by Dr Henry Fisher, the Clerkenwell Health CSO, the advisory board will focus on clinical research and therapy. The new board members will be bringing their expertise in areas of psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, mental health, experimental medicine and psychedelics.
Commenting on the new advisory board, Dr Henry Fisher, the Clerkenwell Health CSO, said: “I am delighted to be able to bring together such high calibre advisors into the Clerkenwell Health scientific advisory board. These researchers are leaders in their respective fields in Europe and are shaping the direction of clinical and fundamental research with psychedelics. This gives us access to the knowledge and network built in some of the most prestigious universities from Copenhagen to Maastricht and London, and it is a privilege to be able to consult with these figures on our own research.”
Dr Dea Siggaard Stenbæk, Associate Professor at University of Copenhagen, said: "I am very honoured to join the Clerkenwell Health scientific advisory board. As a researcher, it is a particularly exciting task to be on this advisory board where I see a great opportunity to discuss the future directions of psychedelic research. We face a critical knowledge gap regarding best practice treatment models in Europe and I believe that Clerkenwell Health is well situated to move the psychedelic research field towards the goal of closing that gap."
Dr David Erritzoe is Clinical Director and Deputy Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London and is currently investigating brain mechanisms and therapeutic potential of MDMA, ketamine and classic psychedelics. He is also Clinical Senior Lecturer in General Psychiatry in Centres for Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychedelic Research at Imperial and Consultant Psychiatrist at St Charles Hospital, CNWL Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. David heads a NHS-based research clinic at St Charles Hospital, the CIPPRes Clinic.
Dr Dea Siggaard Stenbæk is an associate professor at University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital. Her research mainly focuses on neuropsychopharmacological effects of the 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin. She collaborates with the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London and is currently an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow in this group. As the clinical lead, she works on a study of psilocybin as treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr Kim Kuypers is Associate Professor at Maastricht University. Her PhD focused on memory and risk-taking during MDMA intoxication. Her main goal is to understand the neurobiology underlying flexible cognition, empathy and well-being. To accomplish this she uses a psychopharmacological model, studying the (sub)acute and longer-lasting effects of psychedelics on these behaviours and their underlying biology.
Dr James Stone worked as a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, with a focus on experimental medicine and clinical trials. During his time there he set up the ketamine clinic at the Maudsley Hospital for patients with treatment resistant depression. He also worked at Imperial College London as a Senior Lecturer, working as co-director of the intercalated BSc in neuroscience as well as continuing research into the role of glutamatergic abnormalities in psychosis.