Mendel Kaelen, Ph.D.
Researcher, Music and Psychedelic Therapy; Founder, Wavepaths
The world's leading researcher on music in psychedelic therapy — developed the therapeutic music playlists used in major clinical trials and founded Wavepaths.
Biography
Mendel Kaelen completed his Ph.D. at Imperial College London under Robin Carhart-Harris, studying how music shapes the psychedelic experience and its therapeutic outcomes. His research demonstrated that music is not merely background during psilocybin sessions but a primary active ingredient.
Kaelen's work revealed that the emotional response to music — specifically the experience of being emotionally moved — correlates with mystical experience ratings during psilocybin sessions, which in turn predict therapeutic outcomes.
He developed the music playlists used in the Imperial College psilocybin depression trials and the Johns Hopkins major depression trials. These playlists are freely available on Spotify and have become the standard reference for clinical psilocybin music.
After completing his research career, Kaelen founded Wavepaths — a platform that generates personalized, therapeutically-designed music for use in psychedelic therapy sessions, integrating real-time adaptivity to the reported emotional state of the patient.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
Kaelen's research transformed understanding of music from ambient backdrop to a measurable therapeutic variable in psilocybin sessions. His playlists are now used in most major psilocybin clinical trials.
