Business Trip

Tom Insel is an entrepreneur and former director of the US National Institute of Mental Health, the lead US agency supporting mental health research with a $2 billion budget. Since his time at the NIMH, Tom has built mental health technology, first at Verily and Mindstrong Health, and more recently founded Vanna Health, an online healthcare provider for serious mental illness. In his book "He...

What if your next antidepressant was a clam or spinach? Greg & Matias invite Dr. Drew Ramsey to explore nutritional psychiatry - a field exploring how the food we eat can be as powerful as medication in treating mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Dr. Drew Ramsey is a psychiatrist, entrepreneur and author focusing on nutritional interventions for mental wellbeing. Drew shares scienti...

Can diet treat mental illness? Greg and Matias interview Jan Baszucki of the Baszucki Group whose son Matt overcame bipolar through the ketogenic diet. Jan has supported studies on ketogenic diets and fasting protocols for conditions like depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.  In this episode we discuss: The powerful personal story behind Jan's passion for this field The science an...

Advancements in neuroscience, AI, and bioengineering are unlocking new possibilities for neurotechnologies. Investors are paying attention. Alex Morgan of Khosla Ventures is an MD, PhD, physicist, and one of the most active investors in neurotech startups. He's backed companies harnessing neuromodulation for varied applications - from sleep (Somnee) to depression (Flow) to motor recovery (Syn...

Neuromodulation flies in the face of modern psychiatry. It can significantly improve mental health without drugs. It allows us to stimulate or inhibit activity in precise regions of the brain using electricity, magnetism or ultrasound.  Motif Neurotech is pioneering minimally invasive implants to precisely deliver neuromodulation for mental health. In this special episode, Matias joins Empath Vent...

In part 2 of a 2-part series, Greg and Matias explore microbial therapeutics for mental health with Dr. Christopher Reyes, biophysist, serial enterepreneur, and founder of Bloom Science. Dr. Reyes' research on leveraging microbes to treat neurological conditions began at UC San Francisco. He is now translating his microbiome research into startups targeting epilepsy, ALS, and even anxiety and...

Business Trip  launched in 2020 as a podcast focused on psychedelics. As Matias and Greg started to dive deeper into the complexities of mental health, they met more and more entrepreneurs and scientists creating novel treatments across many areas of mental health, including the gut microbiome. Dr. Phil Strandwitz pulls back the curtain on the gut-brain connection and the future of mental health....

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body.  This is part 3 of a 3-part series, where we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We conclude the series with Carolyn Rodriguez. Carolyn Rodriguez...

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body.  This is part 2 of a 3-part series, where we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We continue with Boris Heifets. Boris Heifets, an assistant prof...

Psychedelics have long been known to induce altered states of consciousness. But there are many other techniques that can also expand our awareness - from meditation and breathwork to exploring dreams, prayer, light and sound. In this episode, Greg speaks with Scott Britton about the emerging startup landscape around tools for expanding consciousness. Scott is an entrepreneur who now writes a news...

Stanford University is one of the leading universities in psychedelic science, focusing on understanding how psychedelics work in the body.  In this 3-part series, we will explore groundbreaking discoveries via leading Stanford researchers who are revealing the significance of psychedelic science in modern research. We start the series with Robert Malenka. Robert Malenka is a professor of psychiat...

Psychedelic Science 2023, Learning Man, MAPS Burn...whatever you want to call it...was a magical conference organized by MAPS . 12k people made the pilgrimage to Denver to discuss psychedelic science, culture, business, art, spirituality, and more. Rick Doblin called this the "Psychedelic 20's" and this event felt like a watershed moment. Luckily, Greg brought his microphone and rec...

What does it take for a traditional VC to fund a psychedelic company? In our latest episode, Matias takes us behind the scenes of a panel discussion at the Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development Conference in San Francisco, CA. Matias talks with VCs at firms with $100M+ fund sizes: Anne Dwane, a partner at Village Global, Amanda Way, principal at Jazz Venture Partners and Dana Watt PhD, p...

In our latest episode, Greg and Matias engage in an insightful discussion with Dr. Bryan Roth, the Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and the founder of the Roth Lab. Dr. Roth’s lab is on the cutting edge of researching the interaction between brain cell receptors and compounds like LSD and psilocybin. Their fi...

In this week's episode, Greg and Matias take a moment to reflect on the opportunities and challenges they have faced while building the PsyMed Ventures syndicate and venture capital fund since starting the Business Trip podcast in 2020. Their ultimate goal is to support founders who are building ethical businesses in frontier mental health technologies with the aim of ending the suffering cau...

In this week’s episode, Greg and Matias chat with Josh Hardman, the founder of Psychedelic Alpha .  Josh is a leading writer and founder at Psychedelic Alpha, an online resource, newsletter, and community covering the intersection of psychedelics and business. He regularly collaborates and writes with experts in the psychedelic field including entrepreneurs, academic researchers, non-profits, and...

In this week’s special episode, Matias chats with Dr. Rachel Yehuda and Zach Haigney at Soho House in New York City. This is part 2 of a moderated panel recorded in front of a live audience, with part 1 released in June 2022.  Dr. Yehuda has spent the last 30 years doing research on PTSD and trauma and is leading the MDMA-assisted therapy research at the US Veterans Affairs Medical Center and serv...

This episode shares the story of Tactogen , a drug development company making new chemical entities inspired by MDMA. Co-founder Matt Baggott has been fascinated by MDMA and has studied it for 30 years. And while he believes that MDMA can be effective as a therapeutic, his company is developing an MDMA analogue that is designed to be  gentler and safer, with the potential to be administered in an...

In this new episode of Business Trip, we interview one of the first clinics to offer a protocol that includes TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and ketamine infusion. TMS is a non-invasive procedure that sends electric currents to specific regions in the brain, including areas linked to depression. It's FDA approved and has been gaining adoption as clinical studies demonstrate safety an...

In this week's episode, we chat with Christian Angermayer. Christian co-founded atai Life Sciences and was an early investor in Compass Pathways -- two of the first companies commercializing psychedelic medicine. Christian also launched a fund dedicated to mental and neurological health called re:Mind , is an investor through his family office Apeiron , and co-founded two longevity biotech co...

In this week’s episode, we chat with Melissa Stangl, co-founder of Soltara Healing Center . Soltara is an ayahuasca retreat center whose ceremonies are lead by Shipibo healers, with locations in Peru and Costa Rica. The Shipibo people are from the Peruvian Amazon and are part of a tradition that has been drinking Ayahuasca for healing and spiritual purposes for thousands of years. In their ceremon...

This is final episode in our 3-part series on microdosing that explores the science, history, and clinical applications.  In this episode, we discuss the path to FDA approval for microdosing. We chat with the chief medical officers from Diamond Therapeutics and MindMed about their microdosing clinical programs. Diamond's program uses synthetic psilocybin and is focused on anxiety disorders. M...

This is part 2 or our 3 part series on microdosing that explore the science, history, and clinical applications. In part 1 , we interviewed psychedelic researcher James Fadiman about the fundamentals of microdosing.  In part 2, we wanted to understand the placebo effect. In particular, is it the microdose that makes people feel better or it is a placebo effect? We interviewed Balázs Szigeti PhD, w...

In this 3-part series on microdosing, we explore the science, history, and its clinical potential.  The anecdotal benefits of microdosing include better mood, creativity, and increased focus. But there are still many unanswered questions that remain. What is an effective dosing protocol? Is it safe in long term use? Does it even work or is it a placebo effect? In part 1, we chat with James Fadiman...

In this week’s episode, we chat with Matt Zorn , an attorney at Yetter Coleman with expertise in DEA law, especially regarding psychedelics. Matt is currently challenging the DEA’s decision to schedule 5 new tryptamines, he recently argued Kathryn Tucker’s psilocybin “Right To Try” case against the DEA, and previously co-led Sue Sisley’s DEA case related to cannabis scheduling. Matt also writes th...