RESEARCH

Ongoing involvement in research has been an integral part of my career. I have been involved in quantitative and qualitative behavioural research, as well as in the development and implementation of clinical trials. The areas my research has focused on include substance use, harm reduction, peer research and education, ayahuasca, and psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Projects

I have been employed by and contributed to the following research studies and programs:

MAPS Phase 3 Study on MDMA-assisted therapy for moderate to severe PTSD (read more)
PRIME SUD Study (Psilocybin-Research Intervention with Motivational Enhancement for Substance Use Disorders)
BCCSU Qualitative Community Based Research Program (read more)
The At Risk Youth Study (read more)
The Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (read more)
The AIDS Care Cohort to Evaluate Survival Services (read more)
The Cedar Project (read more)
The OPICAN Study (read more)

Publications

Ceremony leader’s perspectives on the good, the bad, and the ugly of ayahuasca drinking in ceremonial contexts.

Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Journal of Psychedelic Studies

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy after COVID-19: The therapeutic uses of psilocybin and MDMA for pandemic-related mental health problems.

Frontiers in Psychiatry

“Meeting the Medicine Halfway”: Ayahuasca ceremony leaders’ perspectives on preparation and integration practices for participants. *

Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Addiction Social Work Fellowship Program in Canada. *

Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions

Community-based participatory research in a heavily researched inner city neighbourhood: Perspectives of people who use drugs on their experiences as peer researchers.

Social Science & Medicine

Denial of prescription analgesia among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

Drug and Alcohol Review

Willingness to engage in peer-delivered HIV voluntary counseling and testing among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

Self-management of pain among people who inject drugs in Vancouver.

Pain Management

Facilitators’ experiences running a drug user-led safer injecting education campaign. *

Harm Reduction Journal

Evaluation of a drug user-led safter injecting education campaign. *

University of British Columbia Graduate Thesis

Offer of financial incentives for unprotected sex in the context of sex work.

Drug and Alcohol Review

Barriers and facilitators to methadone maintenance therapy use among illicit opiate injection drug users in Vancouver. *

Journal of Opioid Management

* denotes manuscripts for which I was the first author