MAPS Names Betty Aldworth and Ismail Lourido Ali as Co-Executive Directors

*SAN JOSE, Calif. —* The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic
Studies (MAPS), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization at the vanguard of the
psychedelic movement since 1986, selected Betty Aldworth and Ismail Lourido
Ali as Co-Executive Directors. Aldworth and Ali have been interim
Co-Executive Directors since March 2025, following Kris Lotlikar’s
transition from Executive Director to Secretary of the Board of Directors.
MAPS Founder and President, Rick Doblin, will continue to guide research
initiatives and international projects.

MAPS’ formalization of a Co-Executive Director structure reflects its
commitment to multidisciplinary leadership and reaffirms the movement’s
collective evolution toward collaboration. Together, Aldworth and Ali bring
trusted relationships and decades of expertise in drug reform, policy
advocacy, community engagement, and movement building that position MAPS to
expand its national and global impact.

Aldworth brings extensive nonprofit experience to the role, including her
leadership as former Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug
Policy (SSDP) and current service as Chair of the Board of Directors for
the Marijuana Policy Project and MPP Foundation. Ali, an attorney and drug
policy expert who began at MAPS as a legal fellow in 2016 and co-founded
the Psychedelic Bar Association, brings trusted relationships and deep
experience in designing, building, and implementing psychedelic policy
reform worldwide. They have been collaborators since 2016, and Ali was
elected to chair the Board of Directors of SSDP during Aldworth’s tenure.

Under their leadership, MAPS will reinforce its core programmatic pillars
of advancing research, evolving education, and changing policy — but adapt
to today’s evolving landscape by building community within the movement,
strengthening relationships across differences, and using its unique
platform to give voice to the “big tent” MAPS has become.

This leadership transition — announced on the verge of MAPS’ 40th
anniversary — positions MAPS to build on its legacy while looking toward
the future. As the organization that first funded and incubated
groundbreaking psychedelic research, set the groundwork for today’s
successful advocacy campaigns, and helped birth the modern psychedelic
ecosystem, MAPS is reflecting on its success, incorporating hard-fought
lessons, and dutifully preparing for its next 40 years.
ABOUT MAPS

Founded in 1986, MAPS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educational
organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people
to benefit from the careful use of psychedelics and marijuana. MAPS
supports psychedelic and marijuana research with a focus on the people and
places most impacted by trauma. MAPS incubated Lykos Therapeutics, a
drug-development public benefit company, and The Zendo Project, a leader in
psychedelic harm reduction. Since MAPS was founded, philanthropic donors
and grantors have given more than $150 million to advance psychedelic
research, change drug policy, and shape culture.