Dennis McKenna
Dennis Jon McKenna is an ethnopharmacologist and researcher known for studying visionary plants and linking Indigenous knowledge with modern science. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia, where he researched ayahuasca. He has worked with institutions including the National Institute of Mental Health and Stanford, and co-founded the Heffter Research Institute. From 2001–2017, he taught ethnopharmacology at the University of Minnesota. He was a principal investigator of the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical study of ayahuasca use within the União do Vegetal in Brazil. Since 2019, he has led the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy, hosting ethnopharmacology conferences such as ESPD50 and ESPD55. Author of scientific papers and books, including The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, he is regarded as a major figure in contemporary psychedelic research.