Dr. Julie Holland has spent her adult life investigating drugs.  At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Holland majored in the "Biological Basis of Behavior," a series of courses combining the study of psychology and neural sciences, with a concentration in drugs and the brain, or psychopharmacology.  During her college years, she authored an extensive research paper on MDMA (ecstasy), resulting in three television appearances.
   Dr. Holland received her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in 1992.  At Mount Sinai Medical Center, she completed a residency program in psychiatry, where she was the creator of a research project which treated schizophrenics with a new medication.  In 1994, she received the Outstanding Resident Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.
    Currently, she is an attending physician and board-certified psychiatrist at Bellevue Hospital , where she works in the psychiatric emergency room.  A liaison to the hospital's medical emergency room and toxicology department, she is considered an expert on street drugs and intoxication states, and lectures widely on this topic.  She has recently published a paper in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, describing a resurgence of the drug phenomenon smoking marijuana soaked in embalming fluid.  She has been quoted as an authority on MDMA in Harper's magazine, interviewed on multiple television talk shows, and has published in the journal Lancet about the putative neurotoxic effects of MDMA.  She has also written two articles for the quarterly journal of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a consortium of international hallucinogen researchers.  The first detailed a survey of ecstasy and other drugs used at New York City raves, and the second reviewed an international conference on psychedelic research held in the Netherlands.
     Dr. Holland has a private psychiatry practice in Greenwich Village.  She is also a Special Consultant to Heffter Research Institute for drug studies.  Dr. Holland attends bi-monthly seminars at the Lindesmith Center, a drug-policy 'think-tank' supported by George Soros.  Through this network, she has established connections with members of the Drug Policy Foundation, Partnership for Responsible Drug Information, and the Harm Reduction Coalition.
     Dr. Holland is a drug expert.  She is uniquely qualified to author a book about MDMA due to her long-standing, dedicated interest in this substance.  She has attended international conferences on MDMA, as well as the FDA hearings of the human studies approval process.  She is well-read not only on the mechanisms of MDMA intoxication, neurotoxicity, and psychotherapy, but also on United States drug policy and its social implications.  She has developed personal contacts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Food and Drug Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, as well as with toxicologists, pharmacologists, and chemists around the world.
 

C.V.

Residency

 Mount Sinai Medical Center, July 1992 to June 1996
 Chief Resident, Schizophrenia Research Ward, January 1994 to Feb 1995

Education

 Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia,  PA
         Medical Degree,  1992

 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
         Bachelor of Arts,  1987
                    Major: Biological Basis of Behavior
         Concentration: Psychopharmacology

Current Positions

       Attending Psychiatrist, Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency
                     Program, Bellevue Hospital, New York, NY

        Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine

        Private Practice, Greenwich Village, New York City

Research Experience

 Fall 1993 to Summer 1996    Principal Investigator of protocol involving the glutamate neurotransmitter system in schizophrenia using d-cycloserine.  Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Medical Center

 Summer 1989 to Summer 1992   Clinical Psychiatric Research involving auditory hallucinations.  Under the direction of Kevin Riley, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Temple University Medical Center

 Summer 1987 to Summer 1988   Clinical Neurological Research involving regional cerebral blood flow measurement with Xenon 133.  Under the direction of Brett Skolnick, PhD, Department of Neurology, Graduate Hospital

 Spring 1986 to Summer 1987   Independent Study assisting protocol preparations for clinical psychopharmacological research.  Under the direction of Edward Schweizer, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

 Summer 1985  Neuropsychological Research involving Alzheimer's Disease.  Under the direction of Myrna Schwartz, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
 

Awards

 National Institute of Mental Health,  Outstanding Resident Award,  1994
 

Affiliations

 Special Consultant, Heffter Research Institute
 Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
 Mental Health Professionals Harm Reduction Group
 Lindesmith Drug Policy Seminar Series
 

Manuscripts

Published

Holland, Julie; "Positron Emission Tomography Findings in Heavy Users of MDMA"  Lancet, 1999, Vol 353(9152)  p772.

Holland JA, Nelson LW, Ravikumar PR, Elwood WN;   Embalming Fluid-Soaked Marijuana: New Drug or New Guise for PCP?
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 1998, Vol 30(2) pp. 215-219.

Holland JA,  Riley KC;  Characterizing Auditory Hallucinations: An Aid in the Differential Diagnosis of Malingering
Journal of the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry, 1998, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 3-5.

Holland, JA;  Hallucinogenic Drugs in Experimental Psychiatric Research.  Bulletin of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, 1997, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 31-36.

Holland, JA;  Psychedelic Researchers: The Next Generation.  Bulletin of Multidisciplinary association for Psychedelic Studies, 1993, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 40-42.
 

Unpublished
 

Holland JA;  Enhancement of the Glutamatergic System in the Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study of d-Cycloserine
Clinical Research currently underway at Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY

Holland JA,  Mann JJ;  Serotonin Reuptake Sites in Schizophrenia: A PET study utilizing McN-5652.

Holland JA;  MDMA: The promise of Adam.
forty page manuscript written in 1985 detailing the emergence into the popular culture of a "new drug," resulting in multiple television and radio interviews.
 

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