OPENurses Leadership Circle
Wendy Marussich RN, MS, PMHNP, PhD is a doctorally-trained academic evolutionary ecologist turned oncology nurse, hence her nickname, "Dr. Nurse." She is an Oncology Certified Nurse and a Blood and Marrow Transplant Certified Nurse and currently works as an adult inpatient clinical oncology nurse at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF). She trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy through the California Institute for Integral Studies Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR), and has volunteered with the Zendo Project, and other psychedelic peer support and harm reduction organizations, for the past several years. She completed the 2-year Hakomi Comprehensive Therapist Training in somatic mindfulness psychotherapy in 2019, and served as a teaching assistant for Year 1 and Year 2. She is a recent graduate of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program at UCSF and will be moving to NYC in Fall 2023 for a one-year APP Psycho-Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is looking forward to transitioning to working as a psychiatric nurse practitioner with cancer patients and their families. Wendy is most interested in using psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to address end-of-life anxiety, depression, and existential distress, especially in cancer patients. She is a founding member of OPENurses and currently lives in San Francisco, California.
Andrew Penn, RN, MS, PMHNP was trained as an adult nurse practitioner and psychiatric clinical nurse specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. He is board certified as an adult nurse practitioner and psychiatric nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. He has completed extensive training in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy at the California Institute for Integral Studies and recently published a book chapter on this modality. He was a study therapist on the MAPS-sponsored Phase 3 study of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD and is currently a co-investigator at the UCSF site of the Usona-sponsored Phase 2 trial of psilocybin facilitated therapy for depression.
Currently, he serves as an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California-San Francisco School of Nursing where he teaches psychopharmacology and is an Attending Nurse Practitioner at the San Francisco Veterans Administration with the joint UCSF/SFVA NP residency program. He has presented nationally on cannabinoids, psychedelic assisted therapy, and the art and science of psychopharmacologic practice and is a recipient of the UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award. He is a founding member of OPENurses and can be found at Andrewpennnp.com
Liz Willis RN, MS, PMHNP has taken her emergency nursing experience obtained in the top-ranked emergency rooms around the country to disaster relief and international medical missions in six countries on four continents. She trained in psychedelic assisted therapy and research in the second cohort of the California Institute of Integral Studies program and has applied her knowledge to the Zendo Project, providing and supervising harm-reduction focused peer support at festivals both international and domestic. She is recently completed her MS degree at the UCSF School of Nursing Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Program. She is a founding member of OPENurses.
Angela Ward BSN, RN CPTR is Registered Nurse and Transformation Coach in Seattle, Washington. Her years of bedside nursing as a Labor and Delivery nurse and Perinatal Bereavement specialist, as well as her extensive training and experience in psychedelic-assisted therapies have allowed to develop a thriving private practice helping people move through difficult or challenging times in their lives. She is a graduate of the California Institute for Integral Studies Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research, and has worked with over 300+ patients with individual and group ketamine-assisted therapy sessions. She is a founding member of OPENurses and can be contacted through her website www.GuardingGateways.com
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