I am a neuroscientist and psychologist interested in understanding the mind with non-ordinary states of consciousness. Before joining UCL, I obtained my PhD in Neuropsychopharmacology and subsequently led the DMT Research Group at Imperial College where I pioneered the first brain imaging investigations of short-acting psychedelics. My work has focused on the neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, and beliefs of meditation and psychedelics to inform consciousness and mental health research. My work has been published in high-impact journals and widely covered by mass media outlets, including The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, and Wired. I’m also the co-founder and president of a research and educational non-profit in Latin-America, the ECOH Foundation.

I am a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, studying how language shapes the brain, consciousness, and wellbeing. I earned my PhD from The University of Chicago and completed postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medicine. Before co-founding the UCCR, I co-founded and co-direct the UNITy Project, which launched UCL’s first studies using psychedelics, including 5-MeO-DMT, DMT, LSD, and psilocybin. A proponent of open science, I created the open-access Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database and co-founded the Neurobiology of Language, an open-access MIT Press journal. My research has been published in high-impact journals like PNAS and featured in popular outlets like New Scientist and The New York Times.