Gül Dölen, MD, is a pioneer and world leader of psychedelics research. Her laboratory has discovered a novel mechanism that could account for the broad range of therapeutic applications that psychedelics are currently being tested for today. Specifically, her lab has discovered a novel critical period for social reward learning and shown that this critical period can be reopened with psychedelic drugs like MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, ketamine, and ibogaine. Building on this discovery, she's formulated the hypothesis that psychedelics may be the long sought “master key” for unlocking critical periods across the brain. Importantly, understanding psychedelics through this framework dramatically expands the scope of disorders (including autism, stroke, allergy) that might benefit from adjunct therapy with psychedelics, an approach she has dubbed the PHATHOM project (Psychedelic Healing: Adjunct Therapy Harnessing Opened Malleability).