Living between Los Angeles, CA and Brooklyn, NY at the moment. Just finished 1o years living mostly in Europe (London, Mallorca, Ibiza and Florence)
US
A Columbia University-trained public health specialist, Khaliya was the youngest expert on the World Economic Forum’s Future Council o n the Future of Health and Healthcare. She’s also a former Peace Corps volunteer, and winner of both the Middelthon-Candler Peace Prize and the Clare Booth Luce Award for International Service.Khaliya is currently working on a book about the future of mental health. Her opinion pieces have been published in the New York Times (International and Domestic Editions) as well as WiredUK. A frequent public speaker, she has spoken at the Obama White House organized United States of Women Summit, the World Economic Forum's Family Business Summit, the Vatican, Clinton Global Initiative, WiredHealth, WebSummit, the G20 Womens Summit and at the United Nations General Assembly, among others.
Offer
My main talent lies at predicting patterns and coming up with innovative solutions. While I mostly focus that on solving health issues, it comes in handy when looking at any system.
NEED
Before something is considered a great idea, it is usually considered a crazy one. Often I push for things that are considered crazy or unimportant at the time but ten years later are the among the world's most pressing issues. I which I could convince people to thoughtfully consider the "crazy" ideas sooner. Often I can introduce the topic through writing and public speaking, but without adoption it does not have the impact and remains an intellectual exercise of (t00) slow normative change. It is a challenge and something I would love to change.
Call-to-Action
My call to action at the moment is to scale psychedelics for mental health and cognitive liberty. My Oped in the New York Times in 2017, "The Promise of Ecstasy for PTSD" was the first pro-psychedelic articles the Times ever published and at the time was very controversial. There have been great strides in the movement since then but a lot of hurdles remain, particularly with respect to reciprocity and protecting the indigenous communities that have shepherded these compounds and sacraments for so long. How do we scale access whilst protecting these communities? How do we use these medicines to heal not only an individuals pain, but as a tool to heal fissures in the collective and help mend the vendetta culture that keeps the world trapped in cycles of violence? On a personal level, my current Call To Action is around scaling access to the psychedelic Ibogaine which comes from the Tabernathe Iboga Shrub while ensuring the plant, and the Bwiti communities that rely on it as their sacred sacrament, are not negatively impacted by the increased demand. There are many possible solutions to the issue, but none have been thoroughly implemented yet and the threat of black market poaching, habitat loss and the possibility of plant extinction is a growing issue and a problem that I have made it my mission to try to solve.
