Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Certificate: Alumni Panel

Ask our alumni!

Discover the benefits of the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research training at CIIS and hear real-life career outcomes. 

Join our alumni panel to meet several accomplished graduates of the certificate to learn about their work in the field after earning the certificate. This event is open to everyone.

Meet our Panelists

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Anthony Back, M.D., is Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, and researcher at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Dr. Back earned his MD at Harvard University. He practiced medical oncology for 30 years and practices now as a board certified physician in Palliative Medicine and Internal Medicine and as PI on FDA-approved studies of psychedelic therapies, including a randomized study of psilocybin therapy for doctors and nurses published in JAMA Network Open in December 2024. He also co-founded VitalTalk, a national nonprofit that scaled serious illness communication skills to >250,000 clinicians worldwide, and co-authored the book Mastering Communication with Seriously Ill Patients. He is a 2020 graduate of the program. 

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Arlene Samen, APRN, is Founder and Chief Visionary Office of One Heart Worldwide. In 1997, after 35 years as a nurse practitioner specializing in maternal and fetal medicine, Arlene was asked by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to save the lives of mothers and their newborns in Tibet, where one in ten newborns were dying of preventable causes. In 2004, she left her clinical practice to found One Heart Worldwide. While working in Tibet, Arlene developed the “Network of Safety” model, which brings lifesaving care to the expectant mothers and infants where the need is the greatest. In 2009, One Heart World extended the model to remote villages in Nepal and the Copper Canyon of Mexico. In 2015, Arlene attended CIIS as one of the first Cohorts in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy. She has been a TA and mentor over the past three years and is now studying Palliative Care and volunteering at Novamind in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

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Robert Koffman, M.D., MPH, 2020 alum, is a Retired Navy Captain and the Senior Medical Adviser for Warrior Canine Connection. He currently serves as a board member of Wesana Health, is on the VETS’ Academic Advisory Board, the SEAL Future Foundation, and is the current Chair of the newly formed Board of Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies. As a board-certified psychiatrist, psychiatric epidemiologist, and preventive medicine physician, he obtained his doctorate from the University of Santo Tomas, and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Among his many clinical, operational, and leadership positions, he was Chief of Clinical Operations at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) aboard the Walter Reed campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and he was appointed as the Navy’s first head of Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC). A disabled veteran himself, Koffman has dedicated himself to improving the delivery of mental health care in operational settings and is a passionate advocate for increasing access of non-stigmatizing psychological services. He is also a seasoned medical acupuncturist and recognized expert in Animal Assisted Therapies. Robert graduated from the 2020 CIIS CPTR program and is currently conducting research on treating depression in cancer patients with psilocybin, and is slated to soon begin MDMA-Assisted Therapy under FDA Expanded Access at the Bill Richards’ Center for Healing at the Aquilino Cancer Center. With passion, purpose, and commitment, Koffman hopes to champion these essential, healing modalities and medicines for service members and veterans.

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Jeanna Eichenbaum, LCSW, is a psychotherapist with a private practice offering both individual and couples therapy in San Francisco, specializing work with trans and non-binary clients, as well as relationship concerns, trauma informed treatment, and legal psychedelic work and integration. She emphasizes working in the queer community. From 2001-2006, she was the director of the Transgender Recovery Project at Walden House, one of the first residential drug treatment programs in the United States that served the transgender community. She then directed the UCSF Trans-Thrive Program, before going on to be the Team Lead at one of the San Francisco VA Hospital Substance Abuse treatment programs. You can read her articles "Dissolving the binary: the queerness of psychedelics" and "Queer voices speak to the new psychedelia" on the Chacruna Website, and in the book ‘Psychedelic Justice’.

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Miriam Rubino, M.A., LMFT, is a South American bilingual Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, working with adult and children in community mental health settings and in private practice in the Bay Area, CA with a focus on BIPOC and underserved communities. Miriam is a trauma therapist, 2022 graduate of the CPTR program and a 2023 graduate of the Psychedelic Somatic Institute apprenticeship in Denver, Colorado. As an Expressive Arts Therapist and EMDR therapist, Miriam’s work focuses on trauma resolution and embodiment through Relational, Somatic, and Harm Reduction approaches. Miriam’s current focus is in supporting clients in their integration process through the Expressive Arts. 

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