ROLAND R. GRIFFITHS, PhD, was 50 years on the Johns Hopkins faculty. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories was on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs, including extensive research with sedative-hypnotics, caffeine, and novel mood-altering drugs.
Dr. Griffiths was author of over 400 scientific publications and trained more than 60 postdoctoral research fellows.
He was a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, to numerous pharmaceutical companies in the development of new psychotropic drugs, and to the World Health Organization as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence.
The Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D., Professorship Fund In Psychedelic Research on Secular Spirituality and Well-Being is an endowed fund to be held in perpetuity to support a professorship and to establish a world class, rigorous, empirical program of research with psychedelic substances to advance understanding of well-being and spirituality in the service of promoting human flourishing for generations to come.
Held by David B. Yaden
DAVID B. YADEN, PhD, is assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine working in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is also a research associate of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford.
Dr. Yaden completed his doctoral training in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where he conducted research on brief, intense inner experiences often referred to as altered states of consciousness. His scientific research focus is on the psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and psychopharmacology of such states. Specifically, he is interested in characterizing, quantifying, and communicating their risks and benefits, as well as how they can temporarily alter fundamental faculties of consciousness, such as the senses of time, space, and self. He is interested in the risks, adverse events, and relevant bioethical considerations involved in psychedelic and psychedelic-like experiences. To this end, he is the co-founder of the Hub at Oxford for Psychedelic Ethics (HOPE). He is the author of over 80 academic articles, and of The Varieties of Spiritual Experiences: Twenty-First Century Research and Perspectives, a book with Oxford University Press. His scientific and scholarly work has been covered by mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, BBC, and NPR.
ROLAND R. GRIFFITHS, PhD, was 50 years on the Johns Hopkins faculty. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories was on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs, including extensive research with sedative-hypnotics, caffeine, and novel mood-altering drugs.