MAPS Bulletin Autumn 2020: Vol. 30, No. 3
MAPS is delighted to welcome Amy Emerson and Joe Green to the MAPS Board of Directors (maps.org/about/board). Amy and Joe both understand that MAPS has a larger mission than just drug development, and are highly committed to mass mental health, drug policy reform, harm reduction, public education, and legal access to psychedelics for those who don’t necessarily have a diagnosis but seek personal growth, relationship work, spiritual and/or celebratory experiences. It is with both great pleasure and honor we announce their additions to the MAPS Board of Directors, which now comprises eight people: five men and three women.
Amy Emerson started as a pro bono consultant at MAPS in 2003 when she approached MAPS Founder and Executive Director Rick Doblin, Ph.D., at a conference where he was speaking and offered to help monitor MAPS’ clinical research. Rick’s response was, “What’s monitoring?” revealing how crucial Amy’s pharmaceutical drug development experience was for the professionalization and growth of MAPS’ research on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Amy was the key for why MAPS built its own clinical research group rather than hiring contract research organizations (CROs) at an exorbitant cost. She built MAPS’ clinical department while managing the MDMA Clinical Development Program with a focus on the PTSD indication. Her hard work and dedication have led her to her current position as CEO of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC). Amy brings decades of pharmaceutical development and research experience in Phase 1 through Phase 3 randomized controlled trials, including supporting three successful regulatory approvals for new biologics. Her professional experience at Novartis, Chiron, and other pharmaceutical companies (1993-2009) spans various fields including immunology, oncology, and vaccines. Amy is passionate about being a mother and bringing the potential of psychedelics for healing further into the consciousness of the world, leaving a better world for the following generations. With the growth of MAPS PBC, which currently has over 75 staff, and MAPS, with less than 30 staff, adding Amy to the MAPS Board of Directors ensures that the interests of MAPS PBC are formally represented in the deliberations of the MAPS Board of Directors.
Joe Green is a social entrepreneur who has spent his career addressing significant challenges by marrying technology with community organizing. Joe is the Co-Founder and President of the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative (PSFC), a community of philanthropists that supports research and clinical trials of psychedelic medicines, as well as patient access to these treatments. PSFC was born in 2017 out of a realization that psychedelic medicine has the potential to make an enormous impact and has an achievable path to regulatory approval but has been systemically underfunded. Joe and PSFC have collaborated closely with MAPS, including being key partners in the successful $30 million Capstone Campaign this year. Joe co-founded Causes, which empowered more than 100 million people to make an impact; NationBuilder, a leading software provider for organizers; and FWD.us, which has mobilized the tech community around immigration and criminal justice reform. He is currently the Chairman and Co-Founder of Treehouse, which builds communal housing apartment buildings in Los Angeles, and Chairman of Or Halev, a center for Jewish meditation. Joe’s expanding networks foster relationships with drug policy advocates, business experts, generous donors, and a plethora of professionals from outside the psychedelic realm. Joe has been instrumental connecting people in his extensive network of connections who have professional experience relevant to the work of MAPS and MAPS PBC. Joe’s valuable prior political experience will help guide MAPS’ activities as we work on both clinical drug development research and drug policy reform. Joe also has substantial previous business experience to help guide MAPS as we plan on the potential, and increasingly likely, FDA-approved prescription use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Joe brings a critical mind that helps us refine our motives and methods, and he pushes us to achieve better results for our mission, the community, patient access, and commercialization.