Episode 37: The Towering Franklin King

Altered States of Context

Join us for a conversation with Franklin King, is a psychiatrist with expertise in neuroscience and psychedelics. Hear him discuss his history of working in a psych ER and his perspectives on how public health interventions can help people attain greater wellness. Dr. King’s unique experience in mental health care and research on psychedelic-assisted therapy leads to an engaging discussion about how psychedelic medicine is evolving in our current health care system.

Dr. King is a psychiatrist at Mass General Hospital in Boston, was trained in residency and fellowship in Consult-Liaison Psychiatry and a research fellowship with the Cardiac Psychiatry Research Program. He is particularly interested in optimization of therapy paradigms within psychedelic research as well as the use of psychedelic-assisted therapies in disorders at the mind-body interface. Dr. King is currently the Principal Investigator (with Co-Investigator Erin Mauney) on a pilot study exploring the feasibility of psilocybin-assisted therapy for irritable bowel syndrome and is the study psychiatrist for a neuroimaging study partnering with MAPS examining the effects of MDMA-assisted therapy for fibromyalgia (PI: Vitaly Napadow). He is also co-developing the Harvard Interdisciplinary Program in Psychedelics with friends colleagues at BWH and BIDMC, a program that will provide education and training in psychedelic-assisted therapies for clinicians across the various hospitals in the Harvard Medical School community.