Khaleel Rajwani
I am a bioethicist specializing in psychiatry & mental health, and an interdisciplinary psychedelic researcher. I hold an M.A. (Thesis) in Bioethics from McGill University, and a B.A. in Philosophy with distinction from Yale University.I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Psychiatry at McGill. I am a Canada Social Science and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellow and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholar.
Research
My research explores ethical issues related to psychiatric practice, mental healthcare, drug use (including psychedelic substances), and transcultural systems of healing. My current research draws on interdisciplinary methods from practical ethics, critical theory, phenomenology, transcultural psychiatry, and psychopharmacology to critique the development of psychedelic-assisted therapies within Western psychotherapeutic healing frameworks and psychiatric institutions. My philosophical interests overlap with the fields of critical philosophy of race, neo-Marxism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-colonial theory, and Buddhist ethics.My recent work closely examines the ethics of including adolescents in emerging psychedelic research. My ongoing research more broadly examines exclusionary practices in psychedelic research and clinical practice, addressing specific patient groups including youth, people with a history of psychosis, racialized communities, and Indigenous peoples. My latest publication in the Canadian Journal of Bioethics explores issues in the ethics of recording technology in psychedelic therapy settings.I am also a community organizer and grassroots advocate for drug policy reform, racial justice, decarceration, and decolonization. I served as president of Yale Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and have helped develop and implement harm reduction approaches to youth drug use at paediatric hospitals across Canada.
Bioethics
As a practicing bioethicist, I specialize in analyzing the complex connections between socio-cultural context and mental health practices. I have experience offering ethics consultations for a diverse range of clinical, research, and institutional projects. In my clinical ethics work, I specialize in cases involving youth and adolescents, as well as patients from marginalized populations including immigrants, refugees, racialized persons, and gender minorities. My clinical practice is informed by my lived experiences as a racialized person with South Asian, East African, and North American cultural heritage.As a specialized psychedelic bioethicist, I also help psychiatrists, psychedelic therapists, and neuroscientists develop critical bioethical reviews of clinical guidelines and research protocols for psychedelic-assisted therapies. At the Insitut Universitaire de Santé Mentale Montréal (IUSMM), I helped design a clinical healing space specifically dedicated to psilocybin-assisted therapy, the first of its kind in Québec (as seen in the photo below). I specialize in helping institutions create dynamic psychedelic healing spaces based on consensus ethical principles for set and setting construction. Our spaces emphasize tangible connections with transcultural ecologies, histories, and traditions of psychedelic use. Our spaces also centralize the autonomy of diverse participants.If you are interested in tailored bioethics consultation, including clinical ethics, research ethics, and policy work, please do not hesitate to reach out via the contact link below.
Selected Professional Experience- Bioethicist, Ketamine-Assisted Therapy For Treatment-Resistant Disorders in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, with Dr. Miltiadis Moreau (CHU Sainte-Justine)
- Bioethicist, Clinical Guidelines for the Administration of Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression, Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal
- Teaching Assistant, PHIL 343: Bioethics, McGill University Department of Philosophy
- Clinical Case Discussion Facilitator, Medical Ethics, McGill School of Medicine
- Bioethics Practicum Student, McGill University Health Center, Research Ethics Board
- Bioethics Practicum Student, Montréal Jewish General Hospital
- President, Yale Students for Sensible Drug Policy
- Summer Research Fellow, SickKids Hospital, Department of Bioethics
- Associate Teaching Fellow, Yale Young African Scholars, Yale University
- Research Assistant, University of Cape Town, Faculty of Law
- Research Assistant, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
Publications
Google Scholar | ORCIDJacobs, E., Earp, B. D., Appelbaum, P., Bruce, L., Cassidy, K., Celidwen, Y., Cheung, K., Clancy, S., Devenot, N., Evans, J., Fernandez-Lynch, H., Friesen, P., Garcia-Romeu, A., Gehani, N., Maloof, M., Marcus, O., Moen, O. M., Mertens … Rajwani, K. ... Yaden, D. B. (2024) The Hopkins-Oxford Psychedelic Ethics (HOPE) Working Group Consensus Statement. American Journal of Bioethics. DOI: https://www.hope-statement.com/
Download PDFRajwani, K. (2023). The “Third” Eye: Ethics of Video Recording in the Context of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Canadian Journal of Bioethics / Revue Canadienne de Bioéthique, 6(3), 8-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1108000ar Download PDFRajwani, K. (2022). Should adolescents be included in emerging psychedelic research?. Canadian Journal of Bioethics / Revue Canadienne De bioéthique, 5(2), 36-43. DOI: 10.7202/1089784ar Download PDFRajwani, K. (2022). Psychedelic Psychotherapy and the Cultural Concept of the Person. [Master’s Thesis, McGill University]. eScholarship @ McGill University Library. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/z890s076r Download PDFRajwani, K. (2022) Book Review of The Right to Sex: Feminism in The Twenty-First Century by Amia Srinivasan (2022). Journal of Applied Philosophy. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/ARD8YJZZYZJHPA9KDSYJ?target=10.1111/japp.12585 Download PDFAmien, W. and K. Rajwani (2020). Equalizing gendered access to Jewish divorce in South Africa. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law. DOI: 10.1080/07329113.2020.1837465 Download PDF
Contact
© Khaleel Rajwani. All Rights Reserved.