Jeffrey Guss, M.D.
Psychiatrist; NYU Psilocybin Researcher; Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Trainer
NYU psychiatrist who served as co-investigator on the landmark 2016 psilocybin cancer anxiety trial and has become a leading trainer of psychedelic-assisted therapists through the NYU program.
Biography
Jeffrey Guss is a psychiatrist and clinical faculty member at NYU Grossman School of Medicine who has been at the center of the NYU psilocybin research program since its early stages. He served as a co-investigator on the 2016 landmark study — published simultaneously with the Johns Hopkins cancer anxiety trial in the Journal of Psychopharmacology — which demonstrated that a single psilocybin session produced significant, rapid, and durable reductions in anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer.
Beyond his research contributions, Guss has focused substantially on the clinical training dimension of psychedelic-assisted therapy. He has worked within the NYU training infrastructure to develop the competencies, supervision frameworks, and therapeutic approaches that new psychedelic therapists need. His background in psychoanalytic psychotherapy informs his approach to the therapeutic relationship in psilocybin sessions — particularly the role of the therapist as a supportive presence through difficult material rather than an active interpreter during the session itself.
Guss has written and spoken about the challenges of training psychedelic-assisted therapists in a field where the therapy requires both clinical skill and a particular quality of presence that is difficult to teach through conventional training formats. He has been involved in developing curricula for psychedelic therapist training programs and has contributed to the field's ongoing effort to articulate professional standards for this work.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
Guss represents the integration of psychoanalytic depth with the empirical clinical trial framework — a perspective that enriches the field's understanding of what is therapeutically active in psilocybin sessions beyond pharmacology alone. His focus on therapist training addresses one of the most critical infrastructure gaps in the field: the shortage of qualified psychedelic-assisted therapists.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Jeffrey Guss, M.D. operates, see psilocybin laws in New York.