People

Professor David Nutt - Head of Centre

Professor David Nutt is currently the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences. Professor Nutt broadcasts widely to the general public both on radio and television including BBC science and public affairs programmes on therapeutic as well as illicit drugs, their harms and their classification.

He also lectures widely to the public as well as to the scientific and medical communities.  In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine included him in the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist.

Dr David Erritzoe - Deputy Head and Clinical Director of Centre

Dr David Erritzoe is a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Psychiatrist at Imperial College & CNWL Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. His research focus is experimental psychopharmacology using brain-imaging techniques such as PET and MRI. He was trained in PET imaging at Columbia University in New York and later undertook a PhD at University Hospital Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. Since 2009 he has been involved in post-doc imaging research in the neurobiology of addictions and major depression at Imperial College. As clinical director in the Centre for Psychedelic Research, he investigates mechanisms and therapeutic potential of MDMA, ketamine and classic psychedelics together with the CPR team headed by Dr Carhart-Harris and Prof Nutt. In early 2021 David set up a new NHS-based psychopharmacology & psychedelic research clinic at St Charles Hospital in London, the CIPPRes Clinic.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris - Founder, Visiting Professor

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris moved to Imperial College London in 2008 after obtaining a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol and an MA in Psychoanalysis from Brunel University. At Imperial, he has designed and/or carried out human brain imaging studies with a variety of psychedelic compounds, plus a clinical trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and a current study comparing psilocybin with escitalopram for major depressive disorder.

In 2019, he set up the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, thanks to the generous support of its founders.