Karen Cooper, RN, BSN, MA, has been a Sub-investigator in Therapy Dyad and Project Manager at the Fort Collins MAPS study site since 2016. She was Lead Guide and Clinical Research Nurse for the University of Wisconsin’s Psilocybin Pharmacokinetic Study and served as the study trainer for Usona Institute in Madison, WI from 2013-2016. She has served in various capacities for the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at CIIS, including mentor, guest faculty, admissions and advisor, and helped to launch their inaugural program.
Karen’s Master’s degree in Holistic Health Education at John F. Kennedy University included a focus on transpersonal and somatic psychology; she’s a Licensed Bodyworker and Massage Therapist is certified as a yoga teacher, Reiki and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, and public health nurse. Some say she is “Wise Woman,” “Medicine Woman,” or a “Healer,” but she self-describes as a Guide helping others to navigate their inner terrain towards cultivating acceptance and tenderness towards self and others. She offers consultation, mentoring, and coaching in private practice to those curious investigating guiding in the research setting, or finding meaning from psychedelic and alternate reality experiences.
Karen’s nursing career spans more than 30 years in acute, community, clinic, research, business, and academic environments serving patients and clients from prenatal to end-of-life, and has supported her love for teaching, science, consciousness, psychology, psychedelics, and spirituality. Her outside interests include gardening, fiber arts, painting, cooking, and exploring the natural beauty and outdoor activities near her home in Northern Colorado with husband Dan Muller and their pup, Zev.
January 27, 2021, in conversation with Elizabeth Willis, PMHNP
Annie Mithoefer, RN, BSN is a Registered Nurse living in Asheville, NC. She was co-investigator on two of the MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 clinical trials for individuals with PTSD and a pilot study treating couples combining MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD. She is currently co-investigator in MT1, a protocol allowing MAPS-trained therapists to receive their own MDMA-assisted session, she conducts MAPS Therapist Trainings with her husband, Michael, and is a supervisor for Phase 3 therapists. She is a Grof-certified Holotropic Breathwork Practitioner and is trained in Hakomi Therapy.