Reid Robison (born September 1976 in Illinois) is an

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board-certified psychiatrist known primarily for his work with psychedelic medicines. As an early adopter and researcher of the use of ketamine in psychiatry, Robison has made significant contributions to

ketamine-assisted psychotherapy Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, sometimes abbreviated as KAP, is the use of prescribed doses of ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy sessions. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy can be used to treat mental health issues, such as treatment resist ...

(KAP) and other treatment modalities using ketamine for mental health conditions. He previously served as coordinating investigator for a study on

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is the use of prescribed doses of MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy sessions. Research suggests that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including Complex PTSD, might improve treatm ...

for

eating disorders An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating ...

, sponsored by the

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is an American nonprofit organization working to raise awareness and understanding of psychedelic substances. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin and is now based in San Jose, C ...

(MAPS), and he continues to lead research and psychiatric clinical trials involving psychedelics. To date, Robison has guided thousands of ketamine-assisted therapy sessions and

Spravato Esketamine, also known as (S)-ketamine or S(+)-ketamine, is the ''S''(+) enantiomer of ketamine, is a dissociative hallucinogen drug used as a general anesthetic and as an antidepressant for treatment of depression. It is sold under the brand n ...

dosing sessions. He currently serves as Medical Director of ''Center for Change'', an eating disorder treatment center in Utah, and Chief Clinical Officer of ''Numinus'', a Vancouver-based mental health company focused on psychedelic research and treatments. Robison is an adjunct professor at both the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.

Education and early life

Robison was born in 1976 near Chicago and grew up living in Toronto, Canada. He returned to the United States for college and received a B.S. in Neuroscience from Brigham Young University, in 2001, after which he attended the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, UT. Upon earning a dual M.D./

M.B.A A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 2005, he completed psychiatry

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training at the University of Utah, followed by fellowship training in genetics and

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...

at the University of Utah.

Career and research

After his fellowship, Robison held a faculty position at the University of Utah School of Medicine from 2009 to 2011. Here, he served as the Associate Director of the Mood Disorders Clinic and co-directed the Psychiatric Molecular Genetics lab where he focused his research primarily on the genetic associations of

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

, and also contributed to the discovery of Ogden Syndrome, a rare disease found using next-generation sequencing technology. During his time as faculty within the Department of Psychiatry he also led global health initiatives and guided trainees during trips to

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, Ghana and

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s along the Thai/Burma border. Early in his career, Robison founded the ''Polizzi Foundation'', a free clinic based in Salt Lake City offering mental health services to the uninsured. He also co-founded ''Clinical Methods'', a center for clinical trials, with a Clark W Johnson MD, his medical school colleague and business partner. ''Clinical Methods'' was acquired by ''CRI-Lifetree'' in 2012 and later ''PRA Health Sciences.'' Robison has also been closely involved with Intermountain Healthcare, the largest healthcare provider in the mountain west region of the United States. Robison set up the Consult-Liaison Service at

Intermountain Medical Center Intermountain Medical Center is the flagship hospital of Intermountain Healthcare. Located in Murray, Utah on a site at the center of the Salt Lake Valley, Intermountain Medical Center serves as a major adult referral center for six surrounding ...

, Intermountain’s flagship hospital, to provide psychiatric consults to the emergency department and medical floors. After conducting his first research study of ketamine in 2011, he went on to create a ketamine program for treatment-resistant depression at Intermountain’s IV Therapy Center. In 2012, he obtained a grant to study ketamine for depression from the Intermountain Research & Medical Foundation. In 2012, Robison and computational biologist Kai Wang co-founded Tute Genomics, a personalized medicine software company which sought to increase practice of genomic medicine. In 2016, Tute Genomics was acquired by PierianDx. Robison currently sits on the board of directors. Robison is recognized for speeding up genomic data transfer and analysis through the use of

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. Later, Robison and a colleague co-founded ''Cedar Psychiatry'', a network of outpatient mental health clinics offering ketamine therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS),

medication management Medication therapy management, generally called medicine use review in the United Kingdom, is a service provided typically by pharmacists that aims to improve outcomes by helping people to better understand their health conditions and the medication ...

, and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

, and ''Cedar Clinical Research'' in 2018. At Cedar Clinical Research, Robison led the Utah site for the pivotal IV ketamine study of treatment-resistant depression by Janssen, leading up to the company’s FDA-approval of Spravato (esketamine) via

breakthrough therapy designation Breakthrough therapy is a United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The FDA's "br ...

in 2019. After the companies were acquired in 2020, by Novamind, a Canadian company endeavoring to bring psychedelic medicine into the mental health field, Robison was appointed as the Chief Medical Officer. Upon the acquisition of ''Novamind'' by ''Numinus'', another Canadian-based company with expertise in psychedelic medicine, Robison became the Chief Clinical Officer of ''Numinus.'' In this role, Robison continues to oversee the ketamine therapy practice at ''Cedar Psychiatry'' for treating depression, PTSD,

, OCD and other mental health conditions. Robison also continues in his as Medical Director of ''Center for Change'', an eating disorder treatment center in Utah.

Awards and recognition

* In 2014, Robison was named one of the ''Utah Venture Entrepreneur Forum'' peak 100 entrepreneurs of the year. * In 2015, Robison was named one of the top 40 healthcare transformers of the year, * In 2020, Robison was named Best Psychiatrist in Utah.

Yoga

Robison is a certified Yoga instructed and completed his training under Sri Dharma Mittra in New York City. He often speaks and writes about yoga and mindfulness for mental health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robison, Reid Living people American chief executives American physicians American scientists Brigham Young University alumni University of Utah School of Medicine alumni University of Utah faculty 1976 births