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Healing our Distress: The Potential of Psilocybin-assisted Therapy

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Welcome to our series on the potential of psilocybin-assisted therapy to help us live as well as possible with metastatic breast cancer.

Distress, including anxiety, depression, and loss of meaning, is a common side effect for those of us living with MBC. Psilocybin-assisted therapy has been tested and found effective in relieving distress among advanced cancer patients, but is not widely available. Our new series provides an introduction to the potential of psilocybin-assisted therapy in healing—rather than suppressing—our distress.

In this first episode, co-host and producer of this series, Dr. Paula Jayne and co-host Lynda Weatherby interview Dr. Boadie Dunlop, Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at Emory University. Dr Dunlop shares existing and emerging data on how psilocybin may help those of us living with MBC and discusses an upcoming pilot trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy at Emory University’s Palliative and Supportive Care Clinic.

Episode Notes & Resources

How might psilocybin-assisted therapy help with distress?  


Selected research on psilocybin-assisted therapy with cancer patients

Current & upcoming cancer-related clinical trials on psilocybin-assisted therapy 

Research Centers  

Meet the Guest of this Episode

Growing up in a small farming community in rural Missouri, Stephanie Lynn Graff, MD, FACP was the first in her family to attend college. Because she was drawn to science from a young age, she enrolled in a 6-year medical program right out of high school. As she progressed from medical school to residency to a fellowship, she was fascinated by every aspect of the science of oncology—including cell biology and pharmacology.

Dr. Stephanie Graff is the Director of Breast Oncology at Lifespan Cancer Institute at the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Dr. Graff serves as co-lead of the Breast Cancer Translational Research Disease Working Group at Brown University and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Warren-Alpert School of Medicine. Prior to joining the team at Lifespan/Brown, she was Director of both the Breast Program and Clinical Research at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at HCA Midwest, as well as Associate Director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute and National Breast Lead for the Sarah Cannon Cancer Network’s clinical programs. In addition, Dr. Graff serves as a medical advisor to the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. 


Dr. Graff is board certified in Medical Oncology, Hematology, and Internal Medicine; and completed a breast oncology sub-fellowship at the University of Kansas. Dr. Graff has broad experience as a Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials across all phases of drug development, in addition to work in translational research, genomics, and gender bias. In addition to scientific publications, she is an award-winning writer, social media influencer, and sought-after public speaker. Dr. Graff has received the Frist Humanitarian Award for her work in the community and the Benjamin L. Sapers Memorial Award for her “passion for pedagogy, academic rigor, empathy and humanism, with profound feeling for the person as patient.” Dr. Graff currently serves on the American Cancer Society Rhode Island Leadership Council and actively volunteers in the American Society of Clinical Oncology, where she is a 2020 graduate of the prestigious ASCO Leadership Development Program, and now serves on the Joint Certifications Committee and Women In Oncology Work Group. Ultimately, Dr. Graff is passionate about connecting with her patients to provide personalized, comprehensive oncology care, advancing breast cancer research, and breast cancer prevention.