Core Team
The visionary leaders driving PIA's mission to advance evidence-based, ethical psychedelic-assisted therapy in Australia.
Renee Harvey
Renee is a highly experienced clinical psychologist who relocated from the UK to Australia to develop training in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. She was an Honorary Research Fellow and assistant guide in the Imperial College London trial researching psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and has worked as an assistant therapist on the psilocybin trials at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. Renee provides intensive clinical training for research teams across Australia, supervises trial therapists, and contributes to developing research protocols. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia.
Diego Pinzon Rubiano
Originally from Colombia and now an active member of Australia's psychedelic community, Diego brings both international perspective and practical experience to his work. He has contributed to Australia's pioneering psilocybin trial for end-of-life depression and anxiety at St. Vincent's Melbourne and has served in key roles within the non-profit sector and the Psychae Institute. His approach integrates Somatic and Transpersonal methods, reflecting his commitment to whole-person wellbeing.
A/Prof Petra Skeffington
Associate Professor Petra Skeffington is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice and an academic at Murdoch University in Perth. Her research and clinical expertise centres on psychological trauma and recovery, including resilience to trauma, prevention of post-trauma pathologies, and innovative approaches to treating psychological trauma. She was one of the first Australians to achieve MAPS certification for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in early 2023, is a lead therapist on a clinical trial investigating MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy, and is part of the therapy team on a clinical trial investigating Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy.
Dr Stephen Bright
Dr Stephen Bright is a clinically-trained psychologist with more than 20 years in the field. He has been the chief principal investigator of multisite clinical trials and has published research on psychedelics, microdosing, psychometrics, and drug policy. Currently, Stephen is principal investigator on a trial investigating MDMA for PTSD and an associate investigator of a trial of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression, for which he is also the lead therapist. He supervises PhD and Masters students' research at Edith Cowan University, where he teaches counselling skills and psychopharmacology.
Kylie O'Brien
Kylie is a clinical psychologist based in Byron Bay with over 20 years' experience in the treatment of trauma and PTSD. She has expertise in EMDR, EMDR 2.0, and attachment-based EMDR, and is the director of the North Coast Centre for Clinical Psychology and the North Coast Health Collective. Kylie is currently a clinician on the Swinburne Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Trial and was a founding member of the APS Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Interest Group.
