Ecological Medicine: Conscious Connection

Ecological Medicine is a framework that suggests that healthcare should shift toward inter-connectivity, relationality, and health practices involving connection-based interventions, especially nature-based interventions. This Grand Rounds will introduce Ecological Medicine as a theory, science, and practice, highlighting recent clinical studies in which the nature-based intervention, psilocybin, increased the subjective experience of nature-relatedness, alongside objective indicators of increased network connectivity across the brain. The talk will discuss how these findings relate to the nature of human consciousness and point to next steps in research, including determining the extent to which other nature-based interventions, such as horticultural therapy, might mimic psilocybin's effects on the mind and brain. 

Speaker:

Conor H. Murray, PhD

Conor H. Murray, PhD is an Assistant Project Scientist and Lecturer in UCLA's Department of Psychology. His research explores the neuroscience of addiction, psychedelics, and consciousness, combining neuroimaging, artificial intelligence, EEG, and fMRI to better understand the brain and behavior. Currently, his work focuses on developing tools to reconstruct mental imagery from non-responsive patients with disorders of consciousness. He also investigates the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for individuals with cocaine use disorder and teaches courses in Ecological Medicine, Addiction, and Neurophilosophy at UCLA.