A native of Los Angeles, Rick Strassman obtained his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He trained in general psychiatry at UC Davis in Sacramento and took a clinical psychopharmacology research fellowship at UC San Diego. Joining the faculty at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1984, his clinical research with melatonin discovered its first known function in humans.

 

Between 1990-1995 he performed the first new US clinical research with psychedelic drugs—DMT and psilocybin—in a generation. From 1995-2008 he practiced general psychiatry in community mental health and the private sector. He has authored or co-authored nearly 50 peer-reviewed papers, has served as guest editor and reviewer for numerous scientific journals, and consulted to various government, non-profit, and for-profit entities. His best-selling book DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2001) has been translated into 13 languages and is the basis of a successful independent documentary that he co-produced. In 2008, he co-authored Inner Paths to Outer Space. His interest in Hebrew biblical prophecy and psychedelia resulted in his 2014 book DMT and the Soul of prophecy. His first novel, Joseph Levy Escapes Death, was published in 2019. The Psychedelic Handbook appeared in 2022, and My Altered States, an illustrated collection of personal narratives, will come out in 2024.