Dr. Roland Griffiths Obituary: Prominent psychopharmacologist, Dr. Roland Griffiths dies following battle with cancer.
Dr. Roland Griffiths died at his home in Baltimore on October 16, 2023, at the age of 77. In early 2023, Griffiths was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer.
Dr. Griffiths was professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and behavioral science, and director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Griffiths was born in Glen Cove, New York, on July 19, 1946, and grew up in El Cerrito, California. He received his undergraduate degree from Occidental College and his PhD from the University of Minnesota. He then began working at Johns Hopkins.
Griffiths was known for his 2006 paper “Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance”, which The New York Times said “caused a media ruckus” for its documentation of the “revelatory and spiritually meaningful” experiences of individuals who were given psilocybin mushrooms. His work in the field is credited with helping revive interest in clinical research into psychedelic drugs as a potential treatment for addiction, depression, and anxiety.
Griffiths’ marriages to Kristin Ann Johnson and Diana Hansen both ended in divorce. He later married Marla Weiner. He had three children.
Social Media Tributes
“RIP Dr Roland Griffiths, pioneering psychedelics researcher who sparked the psychedelic renaissance as the the first of the current generation of scientists with the courage and vision to recommence studies into the therapeutic niches of psychedelics and who recently brought the fruits of his work and his Buddhist practice to his stage 4 cancer diagnosis. He informed and inspired so many of us so profoundly,” a tribute post shared on Facebook read.
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