Tryptamine Therapeutics Limited announce the appointment of Professor David Castle to its Scientific Advisory Board (`SAB’). Professor Castle is a leading psychiatric scholar who was recently appointed by the Tasmanian Government as Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Tasmania’s Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation, which was launched in partnership with the Tasmanian Department of Health. In 2021, he was recruited to serve as the Inaugural Scientific Director at the Centre for Complex Interventions (CCI) and the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) at the University of Toronto.
Prior to that, he had a 20-year career as the Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. Throughout his career, Professor Castle has focused his clinical and research work on mental health conditions including schizophrenia and related disorders, bipolar disorder, and the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) spectrum. In particular, he has a major current interest in psychedelic treatments to achieve improved health outcomes in the field of psychiatry.
He is also pursuing his work on OCD spectrum disorders, notably body dysmorphic disorder, in which he is a recognised international expert (ranked 1st globally on Expertscape). Professor Castle is currently one of the lead clinicians for an ongoing psychedelic clinical study utilising oral psilocybin in OCD. Comprising 160 patients, the three-arm, placebo-controlled study is the largest single study for OCD globally.
He has also provided input into a second clinical study (scheduled to commence soon) that gained grant support from the Australian Government for oral psilocybin’s use in Anorexia Nervosa. As one of Australia’s leading researchers in mental health, he has published more than 900 articles and book chapters and is a regular reviewer for over 30 national and international scientific journals. Over the course of his career, he also has a demonstrated track record of attracting continuous and significant grant funding for research projects.
Professor Castle has agreed to terms to join the SAB for a period of three years. In his capacity as an SAB member, Professor Castle will provide expert consulting services with respect to best-practice for regulatory engagement and grant funding initiatives, in connection with Tryp’s ongoing clinical trial program. His appointment follows the recent reappointment of Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, a psychopharmacologist and globally recognised leader in psychedelics research, who renewed his role as Chair of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board for a three-year term.