Chronic pain impacts over 1.5 billion people worldwide, with the majority of affected individuals being women. As conventional treatments don’t always help, there’s an emerging interest in the potential of psychedelic therapies. In this episode of The Integration Session, we explore the current state of the science on psychedelics as an approach to alleviating pain and improving quality of life in women with chronic pain. Dr. Sinziana Pop from King’s College London shares her diverse expertise on the topic, future research plans, and why it’s so crucial to take a women-centered approach to psychedelic chronic pain research. This is an especially important topic for psychedelic scientists considering that, in existing clinical trials, most participants are males and sex is not often accounted for in analyses. Dr. Sinziana Pop is a neuroscientist with over a decade of experience researching brain function and evolution. In recent years, her focus has shifted from curiosity-driven "blue sky" neuroscience to exploring unconventional approaches for treating chronic pain in women. Recognizing that individual experiences are central to effective treatment, she is now pursuing psychedelic research, with the aim of designing clinical trials informed by women with lived experience of chronic pain.