Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) Inaugurates VALOR Coalition's Scientific Advisory Council

Esteemed scientific leaders join national coalition to transform veteran mental healthcare

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), a leading nonprofit dedicated to ending the veteran suicide epidemic, today announced the members of its inaugural Veteran Alliance for Leadership, Outreach, and Recovery (VALOR) Scientific Advisory Council.

VALOR—a first-of-its-kind coalition uniting veteran-serving organizations, policy advocates, and scientists to transform mental healthcare for those who have served—was officially launched in September 2025 by founding members VETS, the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Green Beret Foundation, and Wounded Warrior Project. The coalition aims to accelerate access to evidence-based mental health treatments, expand psychedelic research, and eliminate policy barriers that prevent veterans from receiving the care they deserve.

VALOR's Scientific Advisory Council will guide scientific priorities, shape research agendas, and provide expert input on legislative, regulatory, and policy initiatives. The work of the Scientific Advisory Council will help VALOR ensure that veterans and their families benefit from the safest, most effective, and most ethical approaches to emerging treatments.

VALOR Scientific Advisory Council Members:

• Lynnette Astrid Averill, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, and a founding board member of the Source Research Foundation. She previously served as a Clinical Research Psychologist at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and is currently also Chief Science Officer of Reason for Hope and Co-Founder of the Veterans Mental Health Leadership Coalition. Dr. Averill has published extensively on ketamine and psychedelic therapies for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicidality and serves as the Principal Investigator for Texas' landmark psilocybin PTSD clinical trial. Her work is deeply informed by personal experience as the daughter of a Marine who died by suicide.

• Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, is the Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and founder of the Carhart-Harris Lab. He previously established the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London—the first of its kind globally. His research spans multimodal neuroimaging and clinical trials involving psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, and DMT. Dr. Carhart-Harris has authored studies in premier journals such as Nature Medicine and The New England Journal of Medicine, and is internationally recognized for his leadership in the neuroscience of psychedelics.

• Franklin King IV, MD, is the Director of Training and Education at the Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. King specializes in optimizing psychedelic therapy paradigms and studying their use in treating disorders at the intersection of mind and body. He is the Principal Investigator on a psilocybin-assisted therapy pilot study for irritable bowel syndrome and collaborates with harm-reduction organizations on psychedelic safety.

• Jennifer Mitchell, PhD, is a Professor in the UCSF Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and serves as Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. She also chairs California's Research Advisory Panel and holds an affiliate appointment with the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Dr. Mitchell's work focuses on developing novel therapeutics for PTSD, addiction, and depression, with extensive experience in human and animal pharmacology, neuroscience, and clinical trials involving psychedelic-assisted therapies.

• Christopher Nicholas, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. His research examines the efficacy and mechanisms of psychedelic-assisted therapies for PTSD, depression, and addiction. He has conducted multiple trials, including a study on the pharmacokinetics of high-dose psilocybin, psilocybin-assisted therapy for opioid and methamphetamine use disorders, and served as site Principal Investigator for Phase 3 MDMA-assisted therapy trials for PTSD. His mechanistic work explores memory salience and neuroplasticity through the combination of psychedelics with neuromodulation and anesthetic agents. As a founding member of the University of Wisconsin Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances, he consults on psychedelic facilitation, implementation, and harm reduction.

• Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, PhD, is the Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, Professor and Associate Vice Chair of Clinical Research at Emory School of Medicine, and Director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program. A pioneer and foremost expert in PTSD treatment since 1986, she is helping lead Emory's research on how MDMA-assisted psychotherapy could improve outcomes for veterans with PTSD. Dr. Rothbaum has been conducting translational research on MDMA for a decade and is preparing to conduct two RCTs approved for funding by the DOD on combining MDMA and Prolonged Exposure therapy in a 2-week massed daily format for active-duty service members, veterans, and civilians. Dr. Rothbaum is an inventor of virtual reality exposure therapy for veterans. She has authored more than 400 scientific papers and chapters, written 11 books, and edited four others on anxiety and trauma. Her expertise has led to service on numerous high-level advisory boards, including the National Center for PTSD and the Warrior Care Network.

• Brandon Weiss, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. For nine years, he has investigated whether and how psychedelics improve mental health, especially for Military Veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress. He is an investigator on two clinical trials, one examining psilocybin and trauma-focused psychotherapy for PTSD and another examining MDMA and psilocybin for Veteran PTSD. His research also examines repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, ibogaine, and 5-MeO DMT for Special Operations Forces Veterans with PTSD, depression, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Weiss was clinically trained at the San Diego VA / UCSD and completed a National Institute of Health fellowship in neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

• Nolan Williams, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab. A triple board-certified neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Williams has pioneered the use of novel therapeutics, including neuromodulation and psychedelics, to treat mood disorders, OCD, and TBI. He was the lead investigator of a Nature Medicine study evaluating ibogaine therapy in Special Operations veterans, and is the first U.S. investigator to conduct mechanistic studies of ibogaine.

• Rachel Yehuda, PhD, is an Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Trauma and Director of Mental Health at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. She is a globally recognized leader in the field of traumatic stress, PTSD, and intergenerational trauma. In 2020, Dr. Yehuda founded The Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing. Her research has significantly shaped our understanding of trauma-related disorders and their biological underpinnings.

"The inclusion of these esteemed clinicians and researchers on the VALOR Scientific Advisory Council marks a pivotal step in advancing our shared mission to transform mental healthcare for veterans," said Amber Capone, CEO and Co-Founder of VETS. "Each member brings unmatched expertise, scientific rigor, and an unwavering commitment to confronting the range of mental health challenges impacting veterans and their families. Their leadership comes at a moment when bipartisan momentum is growing to expand access to innovative treatments that could hold significant promise for those who've served and suffer from PTSD, TBI, substance use disorders, and other conditions for which standard of care therapies have not been effective."

VALOR underscores VETS' trajectory from an innovative nonprofit veterans charity to a nationally recognized authority in veteran mental health policy. Since its founding in 2019, VETS has steadily scaled its advocacy initiatives, removing barriers to urgently needed clinical research and securing over $118 million in funding towards research into psychedelic-assisted therapies.

VALOR offers membership opportunities for qualifying nonprofit veteran organizations, research institutions, and allied advocates in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Members will collaborate on shared goals, from expanding access to psychedelic-assisted therapies to eliminating research barriers and shaping state and federal policy.

Membership benefits include:

• Advocacy coordination and strategic policy support
• Direct participation in federal legislative initiatives
• Access to insights on emerging research and funding opportunities from our Scientific Advisory Council
• Public recognition as a national leader in veteran healthcare reform

Organizations and individuals interested in joining VALOR can visit www.supportvalor.org or contact [email protected].

About VETS

Founded in 2019, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working to end the veteran suicide epidemic by providing resources, research, and advocacy for U.S. military veterans seeking psychedelic-assisted therapies for traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, and other health conditions. VETS envisions a world where our veterans have access to the most advanced healthcare options to heal from the mental and physical wounds of war.

Since 2019, VETS has expanded its advocacy efforts to advance psychedelic-assisted therapy research for veterans, securing landmark legislative victories at both the state and federal levels. The organization's achievements include passing Texas House Bill 1802, which authorized the state's first public funding for psilocybin research for veterans' PTSD; championing the Douglas "Mike" Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act, which established the first federal grant program for psychedelic treatment research for active-duty service members; and advancing California Assembly Bill 2841, which cleared a backlog of nearly 70 research studies to accelerate mental health treatment research addressing veteran suicide. In 2025, VETS continued this momentum by partnering with Georgia's Lieutenant Governor's office to secure a formal recommendation for state funding of MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy research at Emory University's veterans program; playing a central role in the Texas Ibogaine Initiative that secured over $100 million for clinical trials targeting PTSD, TBI, and addiction; and sponsoring California Assembly Bill 1103, which unanimously passed the state legislature to expedite approval of psychedelic research at California institutions and currently awaits Governor Gavin Newsom's signature.

For more information about VETS' advocacy and research efforts, visitwww.vetsolutions.org.

Media Contact

KCSA Strategic Communications, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), 1 212-682-6300, [email protected], https://vetsolutions.org/

SOURCE Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS)