Our Researchers & Mental Health Experts

Scott T. Aaronson, MD, is Chief Science Officer for the Institute for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has been responsible for developing a research program dedicated to the development of medications and devices devoted towards alleviating the burden of severe psychiatric illness across the spectrum of psychiatric disorders. He is Principal Investigator for studies in various phases and presentations of affective illness and anxiety disorders. Most of his work in recent years has been related to the use of neurostimulation modalities such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Vagus Nerve Stimulation and the use of psychedelic assisted therapy.   His recent studies include first clinical experience of the use of psychedelics in bipolar type II depression and in chronic active suicidal depression.

Dr. Aaronson earned his medical degree with honors from Harvard Medical School in Boston and completed a residency in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. He is an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, a Distinguished Life Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, the Clinical TMS Society and the American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology.  He currently serves on the Board of the American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Faith Dickerson, PhD, MPH is a clinical psychologist with public health research training. She heads the Stanley Research Program at Sheppard Pratt and leads initiatives on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and first episode psychosis. Dr Dickerson’s work focuses on the role of infectious and immune factors in the etiopathology and clinical symptoms of persons with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses; trials of adjunctive immune modulatory agents; and the determinants of premature mortality and suicide in serious mental illness. She has also performed studies on the role of neurocognition in the social functioning of persons with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and has led interventions to promote tobacco cessation as a way to reduce premature mortality in this population. She is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her research has been funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute; the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation; the National Institutes of Health; and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She has more than 250 research publications and makes presentations at national and international research meetings. She collaborates closely with other research groups including the Johns Hopkins Stanley Neurovirology Program, The ALACRITY Center at Johns Hopkins, and the Early Psychosis Network (EPINET) hub at the University of Maryland. She is a member of the American College for Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 2011 received The Gerald E. Hogarty Excellence in Schizophrenia Research Memorial Award.

Dr. Johnson is an experimental psychologist who conducts clinical research with psychedelics at Sheppard Pratt. From 2004 to 2024 he conducted seminal psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins, playing a role in the modern-day revival of psychedelic research. He has published research on psychedelics in relation to mystical experience, personality change, tobacco smoking cessation, cancer distress treatment, depression treatment, and psychedelic risks and safety guidelines. In 2021 he received as Principal Investigator the first grant in about 50 years from the US government to administer a classic psychedelic as a treatment, specifically psilocybin for tobacco addiction. 

Dr. Johnson is also known for his expertise in behavioral economics, addiction, sexual risk behavior, and research with a wide variety of drugs (e.g., cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, caffeine, and cannabis). Dr. Johnson has been continually funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as Principal Investigator for over 15 years and is a former standing member of the Addiction Risks and Mechanisms Study Section for the National Institutes of Health. He is a former President of the Society for Psychopharmacology and Substance Use Division of the American Psychological Association, and a former President of the International Society for Research on Psychedelics. 

He has been Interviewed by the Lex Fridman Podcast, the Huberman Lab Podcast, Big Think, Michael Pollan, 60 Minutes, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, Fox News, and BBC.