Clinical scientist and psychedelic researcher in New York City.
I've worked with colleagues at NYU and Yale to study how psychedelic medicines like psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and DMT can help us learn who we are and how to heal ourselves. How can we work with these medicines safely, ethically, and with care for the whole person?
Dr. Belser's Research and Commentary Featured in
My work explores integrative and psychedelic therapies to alleviate human suffering. My background combines traditional clinical training with over two decades of involvement in psychedelic research. I am committed to helping people find meaningful breakthroughs in their lives.
I'm a psychologist and clinical scientist. My main areas of focus have been psychedelic medicine and LGBTQ+ mental health. Since co-founding the Psychedelic Research Group at NYU in 2006, I have studied how psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and ketamine could be used with different forms of therapy to help us all live life with more meaning.
My clinical trial research has focused on the treatment of depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, substance use, and end-of-life distress.
Teaching & Training
Featured Lecture
A New Approach for the Whole Person, co-authored with Bill Brennan, PhD
A clinical guide for psychedelic therapy: an open-source, transdiagnostic model built around six domains of human experience, now used in clinical trials and training programs in the U.S. and Europe.
From Oppression to Liberation in Psychedelic Medicine, edited with Clancy Cavnar & Beatriz Labate
The first anthology dedicated to LGBTQIA+ perspectives in psychedelic science, a reckoning with the field's past and a blueprint for a more welcoming future.
All of the patients described powerful feelings of connection… a shift from feelings of separateness to interconnectedness, exalted feelings of joy, bliss, and love.Findings from our research at NYU, as told in Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind
Colleagues' Words
"Alex is exceptional, both as a psychotherapist and as a human being. I've met few people as caring, wise, compassionate, or brilliant. Helping others is truly a calling for him."
"I wholeheartedly recommend Alex. What truly sets him apart is his ability to teach and mentor others with integrity and kindness."
"Alex is that rare breed of clinician who pairs a towering intellect with a massive heart, all wrapped up with a down-to-earth humility and an eager curiosity."
I am accepting new patients in my private practice in Gramercy Park, New York City, and I specialize in providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.