James (Jim) Keim MSW, LCSW is a psychotherapist and the CEO of Mimosa Therapeutics, a Public Benefit Corporation developing “high-quality, natural entheogens at very affordable prices.”
Keim received a BA from Johns Hopkins University in Social and Behavioral Science in 1985, and a MSW from the Catholic University of America in 1987. He was also a Fulbright Specialist in the U.S. Fulbright Program.
Keim has taught classes on trauma internationally as a guest lecturer. His clinical work specialized in children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and he directed the Bay Area Oppositional and Conduct Clinic from 2009-2020. He has also been involved in the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act Conferences hosted by NIH for more than 10 years.
Keim’s past supervisory, teaching, and training positions, include a decade as Director of Training at the famous Family Therapy Institute in DC from 1986 to 1997. In 1995, he co-authored the book The Violence of Men: New Techniques for Working with Abusive Families with esteemed family therapist Cloe Madanes. He has also written several book chapters on strategic relational therapy.
In an interview with Psychedelic Invest, Keim stated, “I have a solid background in trauma, and I’ve always been very impressed with the power of psychedelics to really impact change in trauma.”
Since February 2021, Keim has served as Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors at Alexander Shulgin Research Institute. Previously, he was the CEO of OLP Therapeutics, which he founded, from May 2019 to August 2020. OLP Therapeutics developed MIMOSA’s bioreactor cultivation technology.
In a November 2020 podcast with Dr. Sophia Ononye-Onyia of Sophia Consulting Firm, Keim spoke at length about his work in the psychedelic field. He stated that “innovations in how to produce psilocybin…turned out to be where I’m making a greater impact on the world.”
Discussing the value of cultivating natural products, Keim said, “it’s not just about the fungus, it’s about the fungus interacting with the soil, it’s about the fungus interacting with debris, it’s about the fungus interacting with other fungi. And to be able to really bring the beautiful beauty of this complexity to medicine…in a responsible way.”
He also expressed his enthusiasm for MIMOSA’s unique offerings, explaining, “My company has a feedback-informed approach. So that means that the evolution of our therapeutics is…informed by what the community tells us is useful, is helpful, is therapeutic about our creations. That ongoing process means that we can actually make changes in our therapeutics in a matter of months…We merely have to change algorithms or nutrient bases, or at worst, an impeller…So, that, to me, is so exciting — that speed of evolution, and to be working in psychedelics…Psychedelics are just fantastic for [trauma]. They’re everything that we had wished SNRIs and SSRIs would be.”