Jasmine Virdi, writing for Chacruna:
On August 14, 2020, the world bid farewell to scientific pioneer, Dr. Jordi Riba. The untimely death of the Catalan ayahuasca researcher has come as a harsh blow to the close-knit ayahuasca community the world over.
Born on September 12, 1968, in Barcelona, Spain, Riba acquired a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Barcelona in 1993. He went on to complete his doctorate in pharmacology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 2003. Riba was undoubtedly one of the most prolific researchers in the field, having devoted well over two decades of his life to unveiling the mysteries of ayahuasca. He published nearly 80 scientific articles, was an active speaker at conferences throughout Europe, the United States, and Latin America, and was considered a preeminent academic exploring the clinical uses of ayahuasca.
Among his most notable contributions was Riba’s success in conducting the world’s first controlled clinical trial with ayahuasca and the first neuroimaging studies with the brew. His pioneering understanding of the mechanistic and therapeutic potentials of ayahuasca, alongside other psychoactive substances like 5-MeO-DMT, salvinorin-A, and cannabinoids, were key in validating investigations into these previously stigmatized substances.
I was previously unaware of Dr. Jordi Riba’s work, and perhaps you were too. He contributed so much to ayahuasca research that it’s a shame I didn’t hear about him before his death, but it’s good to know about his work now.