Dr. Eduardo Ekman Schenberg is a Brazilian neuroscientist and founder of Instituto Phaneros, a nonprofit based in São Paulo that advocates for the regulation of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) in Brazil and educates mental health workers in PAP. Instituto Phaneros developed from a former nonprofit venture founded by Dr. Schenberg in 2009, Instituto Plantando Consciência. He became Director of Instituto Phaneros in 2015.
Dr. Schenberg earned a Bachelor’s degree in biomedicine in 2010 and a Master’s degree in psychopharmacology in 2005 from Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Federal University of São Paulo). In 2010, he acquired his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Universidade de São Paulo (University São Paulo).
From 2014 to 2015, Dr. Schenberg joined the team at Imperial College of London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research to conduct postdoctoral research on LSD’s effects on the brain. His prior postdoctoral work was done at Universidade Federal de São Paulo from 2010 to 2015.
Dr. Schenberg’s research focuses on the impacts of ayahuasca (explored in both laboratory1,2 and indigenous ceremonial contexts3), ibogaine, MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD on the brain and consciousness from both neurological and phenomenological perspectives. He has studied the specific therapeutic potential of MDMA for PTSD,4 ibogaine for drug dependency,5 and ayahuasca for cancer.2 A 2018 report of Dr. Schenberg’s, published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, investigated mechanisms of change in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy that challenge the traditional medical model of mental illness.6 A July 2020 article in Psychedelic Science Review summarized the study.
In 2019, Dr. Schenberg’s team examined cross-cultural experiences and perspectives of ayahuasca through a collaboration between biomedical scientists and the indigenous Amazonian Huni Kui tribe.3 He shared their findings at the ICPR 2020 conference. His other speaking engagements include a talk at Psychedelic Science in 2017 about MDMA’s potential to treat PTSD in Brazil as well as presentations at the World Ayahuasca Conference and Global Ibogaine Conference. His work has been published in an array of international journals.
More information about Dr. Schenberg and his research can be found on his website and on his ResearchGate and Semantic Scholar profiles.