Anja Loizaga-Velder, MD


Anja is a German-Mexican clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, with humanistic and transpersonal orientation. Parallel to her psychotherapeutic practice Anja has been collaborating with indigenous healers and investigating the therapeutic potential of the ritual use of psychedelic plants for over 25 years. She earned a doctoral degree from Heidelberg University in Germany with a dissertation on the therapeutic uses of ayahuasca in addiction treatment. She has published several research articles and book chapters that explore the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca and other psychedelics for the treatment of mental health challenges. She is a founding member and director of research and psychotherapy at the Nierika Institute for Intercultural Medicine, in Mexico, a NGO dedicated to the investigation and preservation of indigenous traditions with sacred plant medicines and their therapeutic applications. Anja also is adjunct profesor and researcher in Humanities in Health at the Medical School at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.