Robin Lester Carhart-Harris

Robin Lester Carhart-Harris (born 31 August 1980) is a British psychopharmacologist who is Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, he founded and was Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London.

He is noted for brain imaging studies of psychedelic and psychoactive drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and DMT, and research into their therapeutic use in treating psychiatric disorders such as depression. In 2020, The Times named him one of the world's top 31 medical scientists. The following year, he was included in TIME magazine's "100 Next" list of 100 notable people "poised to make history".

Early life and career Carhart-Harris was born in Durham and grew up in Bournemouth. He first took LSD with his friends at the age of 14 in 1995. Per Carhart-Harris, this experience determined the path that his life would take. The following year, he moved to Brunel University and earned an MSc in Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Society. Between 2005 and 2009, he took his doctorate, focused on the psychopharmacology of the serotonin system, supervised by Sue Wilson and Marcus Munafo at the University of Bristol. Carhart-Harris joined David Nutt at Imperial College London in 2008, and they have been regular collaborators on the use of psychoactive drugs in treating a variety of psychiatric disorders.

In 2014, while at Imperial, Carhart-Harris became the first scientist in 40 years to test the effects of LSD legally on human volunteers. The study showed a decrease in symptoms of depression for at least three weeks. 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. 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. Carhart-Harris' first book, How Psychedelics Work: The Hidden Mind and Our Power to Heal, is due to be published in February 2027.

Research interests

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. 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.

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, His research has also compared the effectiveness of psychedelic drugs against conventional SSRI drug treatments for depression. Carhart-Harris believes psychedelics could be useful in treating other mental disorders, such as addiction and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as potentially enhancing creative thinking.

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".

Carhart-Harris believes psychedelics work by "breaking down habits of mind and brain and behavior", causing "a cascade of neurobiological changes that manifest at multiple scales and ultimately culminate in the relaxation of high-level beliefs". These changes include heightened neuroplasticity and disruption of the default mode network (responsible for background brain activities such as mind wandering and daydreaming). He won the 2018 Association for Behavior Analysis International B F Skinner award.

Other activities Carhart-Harris has been a scientific adviser to some biomedical companies.

Personal life Carhart-Harris is married with two children.

Selected publications

Accessible articles and op-ed pieces

Book

Academic papers