OPENurses Founders Circle
Current Leadership:
Wendy Marussich RN, MS, PMHNP, PhD is a doctorally-trained academic evolutionary ecologist turned oncology nurse, hence her nickname, "Dr. Nurse." She decided to become a nurse to seek more meaning and geographic flexibility in her life. Upon graduation from an accelerated nursing program she began working as an oncology nurse and immediately fell in love with oncology patients and oncology nursing.
After reading about the groundbreaking psychedelic research trials with cancer patients at UCLA, NYU, and Johns Hopkins to treat depression, anxiety, and end-of-life distress, she trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy and research through the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research (CPTR) program. Then she completed a 2-year Hakomi Comprehensive Therapist Training in somatic mindfulness psychotherapy, and served as a teaching assistant for Year 1 and Year 2—successfully converting the entire in-person experiential somatic therapy training to Zoom due to the pandemic. She has also trained in ketamine-assisted therapy through the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute (PRATI) in Colorado.
To help further address the mental health needs of her cancer patients, she decided to return to school (yet again!) to become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) at UCSF. She then completed a one-year Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship in Psycho-Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She recently returned to San Francisco to join Mindful Health Solutions as a PMHNP. She is excited to be able to use interventional techniques, such as TMS and ketamine therapy, in addition to traditional psychopharmacology, to treat mental health conditions. She is a current founding member of OPENurses. She developed the concept of Nurses as the Swiss Army Knife of Psychedelics.
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 and completed training in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy at the California Institute for Integral Studies. He was a study therapist on the MAPS-sponsored Phase 3 study of MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD and a co-investigator at the UCSF site of the Usona-sponsored Phase 2 trial of psilocybin facilitated therapy for depression, published in JAMA.
Currently, he serves as a 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 SFVA NP residency program. An internationally invited speaker at TEDx, SXSW, Aspen Institute, and the Singapore Ministry of Health, he has presented on psychedelic assisted therapy, cannabinoids, and the art and science of psychopharmacologic practice. His work has received the UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award. He is a current 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 recently completed her MS degree at the UCSF School of Nursing Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Program. She is a current founding member of OPENurses.
Emerita:
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 was a founding member of OPENurses and can be contacted through her website Guardian at the Gateway or her educational program Return to Roots.
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