Charles Raison
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Psychiatrist and researcher exploring psilocybin as a treatment for depression with a distinctive focus on inflammation as a driver of mental illness.
Biography
Charles Raison is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the most intellectually distinctive voices in psilocybin research. His scientific lens is unique: Raison approaches depression through the lens of evolutionary medicine and inflammation, arguing that the depressive syndrome evolved as an adaptive response to infection and that treatment-resistant depression in the modern era often reflects a mismatch between this ancient system and contemporary stressors. This framework has shaped his interest in psilocybin, which he sees as potentially disrupting depressive neural circuits in ways that anti-inflammatory treatments alone cannot.
Raison is a principal investigator on several psilocybin trials through his long-standing relationship with the Usona Institute, a Madison-based nonprofit that has supported high-quality psilocybin research outside the for-profit pharmaceutical model. His work includes one of the largest randomized controlled trials of psilocybin for major depressive disorder — not just treatment-resistant depression but the broader population of people with MDD, a significant expansion of the eligible patient population.
Beyond his lab work, Raison is known for communicating openly about the complexity of mind-body medicine and the ways in which the psychedelic renaissance intersects with a broader rethinking of what depression actually is. He is a regular speaker at psychedelic research conferences and has written for both academic journals and mainstream science outlets.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
Raison's inflammation-focused approach to depression and psilocybin research opens a mechanistic lens that complements the neuroplasticity and default-mode-network frameworks dominant elsewhere in the field. His Usona Institute trials are expanding the psilocybin evidence base beyond treatment-resistant populations to major depression broadly.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Charles Raison operates, see psilocybin laws in Wisconsin.