“Medicinal psychedelics hold the potential to transform the treatment landscape for a range of conditions, including mental health disorders, pain management and neurological diseases,” said Dr. Anthony Adili, chief innovation officer at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. 

“St. Joe’s has the infrastructure, world-class researchers and multidisciplinary expertise to generate the evidence needed to guide the safe, ethical and effective use of medicinal psychedelics.”   

​The Centre for Health Innovation and Research in​​ Psychedelics will be a hub for research and innovation that will bring together researchers from across the country and around the world. One of only a handful of centres dedicated to studying the health effects of psychedelics, the centre will provide researchers with the clinical space required to treat and monitor patients taking psychedelic therapies, which will make it easier and more efficient for scientific studies to be conducted.  

Researchers will also have access to state-of-the-art imaging technologies, including functional MRI and EEG, enabling them to explore the brain’s response to psychedelic therapies with unprecedented precision.   

As an academic health sciences centre with decades of experience leading international, multi-centre clinical trials, St. Joe’s is in a unique position to lead research in medicinal psychedelics. St. Joe’s is one of Ontario’s largest providers of mental health and addiction services and one of the country’s few specialty psychiatric centres connected to an acute care hospital. The centre’s research opportunities are aligned with many of the clinical strengths at St. Joe’s including pain medicine, neurology, gastrointestinal diseases, palliative care and bariatrics.   

“With a team of world-class researchers already advancing work in related fields, St. Joe’s has the experience and expertise to drive discovery in the field of medicinal psychedelics,” said Dr. Lehana Thabane, vice president, research, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “Guided by our mission of unstoppable compassion, this centre builds on our excellence in conducting complex, multidisciplinary studies. The research that happens here will not only deepen the scientific understanding of medicinal psychedelics but also transform patient care.”   

There are currently three trials underway looking at the potential of psychedelic treatments, including a study looking at its role in treating chronic pain and cannabis addiction.   

For more information on the Centre for Health Innovation and Research in Psychedelics, visit stjoes.ca/chirp.   ​