Alicia Danforth, Ph.D. is the co-investigator for a current MAPS-sponsored phase 2 pilot study looking at the effect of MDMA-assisted therapy on social anxiety in autistic adults. She began her work in clinical research with psychedelic medicines with Dr. Charles Grob at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in 2004. After volunteering for a few years, she became a study coordinator and co-facilitator on a Heffter Research Institute clinical trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for existential anxiety related to advanced cancer. The transformations she witnessed in study participants inspired her to become a clinical psychologist.​​