On episode 51 of A Chat with Uma, I sit down with Dr. Boris Heifets, MD, PhD—associate professor at Stanford, anesthesiologist, neuroscientist, & one of the most extraordinary scientists & clinicians who is truly revolutionizing mental health! He pushes the boundaries of how we approach consciousness, mental health, & pharmacology—asking questions most people are too afraid to traverse: Do we need to be awake for drugs to heal the brain? What exactly are ketamine, MDMA, & psilocybin doing when they flip a circuit? Could anesthesiology itself hold keys to psychiatry’s future?
And yet what makes Boris remarkable isn’t only the science—it’s who he is. Over two hours, he shares not just his cutting-edge research but his story: moving from Moscow to the U.S., struggling with belonging, discovering MDMA & LSD in college, & how those experiences of connection still shape his lab’s vision today. We explore MDMA for OCD & autism, the limits of “magic bullet” thinking, why context & lifestyle matter more than a single intervention, & how anesthesiology lets him practice applied neuroscience in real time. If you want to understand where psychiatry is heading & hear from one of field's foremost minds, this is an episode you cannot miss.
Topics Discussed (+ Timestamps):
(00:00:00) Introduction & welcome to Dr. Boris Heifets, MD, PhD!
(00:08:44) How Boris & I first met, & why I've admired him since!
(00:11:00) Who Boris is beyond titles: curiosity, sci-fi imagination, & breaking boundaries
(00:16:00) Childhood across Moscow, Denver, St. Louis, Philly → disconnection & search for belonging
(00:17:30) College discoveries: MDMA & LSD → the shock of true connection
(00:19:30) MDMA for autism spectrum: Alicia Danforth’s trial & showing connection for the first time
(00:22:00) Psychedelics as tools, not cures → lifestyle & comorbidities vs. one-day interventions
(00:27:00) How reductionistic models fail to capture what psychedelics actually do
(00:31:00) Anesthesiology + psychiatry + neuroscience → how Boris integrates it all
(00:36:40) Applied neuroscience: giving drugs, flipping brain states in real time
(00:43:00) Why mental health was always his focus & the bottlenecks of human communication
(01:00:00) Translational bridge: MDMA, ketamine, psilocybin across mice & humans
(01:12:00) What anesthesiology teaches psychiatry about states, context, & timing
(01:25:00) Team science vs. lone-genius myth → collaboration, controversy, courage
(01:36:00) What makes psychedelic medicine powerful: bending life trajectories, not instant cures
(01:45:00) How to measure outcomes when the drug is just the beginning
(01:55:00) Risks, hype, & how to ground the field in reality without losing hope
(02:10:00) Closing reflections: radical curiosity, gratitude, & staying human in the science
Connect with Dr. Boris Heifets!
Connect with me!
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.