Introducing Johanna Chao Kreilick, Strategic Field Builder Expanding PMHA Alliance’s Work Into Mental Health

PMHA Alliance is delighted to introduce Johanna Chao Kreilick, an extraordinary strategic field builder we’ve been working with over the past several months. Johanna is coming on this fall to help us expand our reach into the broader mental health field and to begin planning a major new field-building initiative that will convene in early 2026.

Johanna brings two decades of experience advancing justice, equity, and planetary well-being. She is a Senior Fellow at NYU Law’s Center for Human Rights & Global Justice and the former President of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

This fall, Johanna will help guide a new field-building initiative launching in collaboration with the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund. The project will connect adjacent movements in public health, mental health equity, Indigenous medicine conservation, and philanthropy—catalyzing dialogue, cross-pollination, and expanding donor ecosystems. This initiative reflects PMHA’s vision for psychedelic care that is ethical, inclusive, and publicly accountable. Watch for more on this work in the months ahead!

Equity First, From Principle to Practice

Johanna is also the author of Building the Future We Want, a new PMHA paper that argues the full promise of psychedelic-assisted therapy will only be realized if equity is built in from the start. The paper shows why accessibility is not just an ethical imperative but the most pragmatic route to scale, trust, and sustainability—outlining four essential drivers: Medicaid alignment, community partnership, innovation through diverse voices, and systemic resilience. These key ingredients are at the heart of PMHA’s theory of change and strategy.