UEFS Professor Paulo Barbosa (DCHF) is taking part in a major research project, carried out in inter-institutional and international collaboration with the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), UEFS, the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), in San Francisco, California, USA, and the FDA, based in Maryland, USA.
Entitled ''Persistent, acute and sub-acute effects of ayahuasca: a cross-cultural neuropsychiatric evaluation'', the research project will receive funding of around R$ 500,000.00, through an agreement signed with the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), a regulatory agency linked to the US government's health department.
This collective scientific construction aims to investigate the positive and adverse effects of ayahuasca and associated factors, in order to collaborate with the authorities to make possible a scientifically informed regulation of the use of the psychedelic drink, which adequately addresses public health issues and questions of religious freedom.
For Professor Paulo Barbosa, coordinator of the research in Brazil, this experience is gratifying and significant for the institution. ''This implementation opens up important fronts so that Uefs can receive funding from the US government, and opens up a pathway for other funding. In academic terms, neuropsychology, psychiatry in the US is the most developed in the world, they add a lot of science, a lot of technology, and something very important that we will have is the promotion of staff exchanges. It's a door that opens with one of the best universities in the world, the University of California at San Francisco, which is highly regarded. UEFS has a lot to gain from this, especially in the health sector," he said.
According to the coordinator, the American funding will make it possible to set up a research center on the UEFS campus, as well as buying technological devices and hiring staff to carry out the planned stages of the research!
