Instructors
Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies Faculty
Sara Lewis, PhD, LSW
Faculty Co-Director
Dr. Sara Lewis is Associate Professor and Chair of Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology at Naropa University. She earned her PhD from Columbia University and two master’s degrees from the University of Chicago, specializing in psychological anthropology, global mental health, and clinical social work. She is author of “Spacious Minds: Trauma and Resilience in Tibetan Buddhism,” (Cornell University Press, 2019) which explores how Buddhist concepts of mind, memory, and emotion shape responses to trauma in the Tibetan diaspora. She is a former Fulbright fellow, and her work has been supported by the Mind and Life Institute, and the Mellon Foundation. She is also a psychotherapist in private practice, and has conducted research on how psychedelics can be a catalyst for change in therapeutic settings.
Travis Cox, PhD
Travis Cox, PhD, is Associate Professor and Chair of the Masters in Ecopsychology at Naropa University. He has been studying consciousness throughout his career in academia, both as a student and as faculty. His interests in psychedelics are at the intersection of activism, philosophy, sustainability, and ecopsychology. He presented on psychedelics and sustainability at the 2019 AASHE conference, helped organize the "Can Exceptional Experience Save the World?" conference at the Claremont Graduate School of Theology in 2019, and was a part of the "Philosophy and Psychedelics" conference at the University of Exeter in April of 2021.
Jamie Beachy, MDiv, PhD, ACPE
Faculty Co-Director
Jamie Beachy PhD, MDiv, serves as Assistant Faculty for Naropa’s Master of Divinity program. Jamie has worked as a chaplain, ACPE certified spiritual care educator, and ethics consultant in diverse contexts including academic medical centers, trauma hospitals, hospice, and palliative care settings. In addition to her role at Naropa, Jamie serves as a therapist with the MAPS MDMA-assisted therapy study site in Boulder. She has presented and convened gatherings on psychedelics and chaplaincy including a recent panel at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, and a forthcoming article on chaplaincy and psychedelic therapies in the MAPS Bulletin.
MAPS Therapy Trainers
Marcela Ot’alora G., MA, LPC
Principal Investigator
Marcela is dedicated to the treatment and research of trauma, through art and through the use of MDMA-assisted therapy. She worked as a co-therapist in the first government approved MDMA-assisted therapy study in Madrid, Spain and is the Principal Investigator of the MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 and 3 MDMA-assisted therapy trials in Boulder, Colorado. She received her MA in Transpersonal Psychology from Naropa University and MFA from University of Greensboro in North Carolina. She was born and raised in Colombia, South America and now lives in Boulder, Colorado. She is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Bruce D. Poulter, MPH
Sub-Investigator & Supervisor
Bruce has worked extensively with people in chronic pain as an educator and Rolfer and has served as a Sub-Investigator and Clinical Supervisor on the MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 and 3 MDMA-assisted therapy trials. What Bruce appreciates about MDMA-assisted therapy is its’ deeply intimate nature; driven by a profound love for self, community and other; participant centered; respectful of participants processes; it leverages a person’s native inherent wisdom; and invites/demands authenticity of all parts and parties involved in the at times mysterious, service of healing.