Former UK Government Drug TSAR Appointed as Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board
Awakn is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor David Nutt as Chairman of its newly formed Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Professor David Nutt is a world renowned neuroscientist, leading global authority on drug policy reform and former chief drug advisor to the UK government. He serves as the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, and Founding Chair of Drug Science (formerly the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs).
Awakn’s SAB will provide strategic scientific counsel as the company implements its vision and strategy across three business lines of clinical research, therapeutic clinics and healthcare training.
Dr. Ben Sessa, Awakn Chief Medical Officer, stated: “David has always been a trailblazer and supporter of innovative psychopharmacology. He is a prolific promoter of drug reform policies and an internationally respected scientific researcher. I have had the pleasure of working alongside David on numerous psychedelic studies over the last 10 years, and we know the time is right and the time is now. David shares Awakn’s vision of how clinical psychedelics in combination with psychotherapy can cure mental health conditions. This is a new way of doing psychiatry. This is the medicine of the future.”
Prof. David Nutt, Awakn Scientific Advisory Board Chair, stated: “I am delighted to be able to support this exciting initiative. I believe psychedelic treatments have the opportunity to change psychiatry in the way immunotherapies are changing medicine. The sooner we can start using these the better it will be for patients, and I am pleased Awakn are taking the lead in this.”
Anthony Tennyson, Awakn CEO, stated: “What a time this is for psychedelic medicine. An era of scientific and therapeutic innovation with real potential to move the dial on mental health care. Professor Nutt encapsulates the essence of scientific change, and we are honored to welcome such global pedigree to the mix alongside his longtime friend and collaborator, our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ben Sessa.”