Roman Palitsky, M.Div. PhD

Roman Palitsky, MDiv, Ph.D. is Director of Research Projects for Emory Spiritual Health, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, and faculty in the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. He runs the Lab for Existential Behavioral Medicine, which investigates the pathways through which culture and health interact by examining the biological, psychological, and social processes that constitute these pathways. His research focuses on optimizing mental health treatments through greater responsiveness to cultural and existential concerns.

His current projects include studies of psychedelics across a range of contexts and outcomes. He leads the Post-Psychedelic Challenges Study and the Mediation-Related Challenges Study, which seek to understand persisting adverse effects after psychedelics and meditation, as well as treatment strategies to address these challenges. He leads the DIAL-IN study, funded by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, which uses ambulatory assessment within a trial of psilocybin for major depression to understand early predictors of improvement or worsening in psilocybin therapy. He is also a lead on the MOSAIC initiative at Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. MOSAIC is a collection of projects that programmatically investigates the widely varied spiritual, existential, religious, and theological implications of psychedelics beyond the mystical experience.

Dr. Palitsky’s work also includes implementation research in mindfulness-based interventions, addressing provider facilitators and barriers, religious and existential determinants of response and uptake, and cultural adaptations. Dr. Palitsky frequently mentors research projects by students and fellows who have interests at the intersection of culture, spirituality, and behavioral medicine.

Dr. Palitsky’s research has been supported by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the River Styx Foundation, the Common Era Fund, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society.

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Research, Brown University, 2022
• Clinical Internship, Behavioral Medicine Track @ Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, 2021
• PhD, Clinical Psychology. University of Arizona, 2020
• MDiv, Harvard University, 2010
• BA, Psychology & Religion, CUNY Baccalaureate Program, 2007

Selected Research

• Fiskeaux, M., Finley, B., Goldstein, D., Sender, J., Rogers, M., Palitsky, R. (2025) What we talk about when we talk about psychiatric mental health nurses’ work-related distress: An umbrella review and concept mapping network analysis. International Journal of Nursing Studies.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2025.105211
• Palitsky, R., Captari, L., Maples-Keller, J. L., Peacock, C., Rupert, D., Kaplan, D. M., Stavros, G., Grant, G., Sandage, St. (2025). Applying relational spirituality to develop spiritual and religious competencies in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy training. Psychotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000594
• Palitsky, R., Maples-Keller, J., Peacock, C., Dunlop, B. W., Mletzko, T., Raison, C. L., Grant, G. H., Chao, S., Shub, I., Mendelbaum-Kweller, M., Smolyar, L., Kaplan, D. M., Rothbaum, B., Zarrabi, A. J. (2025) A critical evaluation of psilocybin-assisted therapy protocol components from clinical trial patients, facilitators, and caregivers. Psychotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000551
• Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D. M., Perna, J. Bosshardt, Z., Maples-Keller, J., Levin-Aspenson, H., Zarrabi, A-J., Peacock, C., Mletzko, T., Rothbaum, B. O., Raison, C. L., Grant, George H., Dunlop, B. (2024) A Framework for Assessment of Adverse Events Occurring in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies. Journal of Psychopharmacology.https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811241265756
• Palitsky, R., Chen, Z.J., Rentscher, K.E., Friedman, S.E., Wilson, D.T., Ruiz, J.M., Sullivan, D., Grant, G.H., O'Connor, M-F. (2023) Associations of religious and existential variables with psychosocial factors and biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in bereavement. Anatomical Society DOI: 10.1111/acel.14014
• Palitsky, R., Wilson, D.T., Freidman, S.E., Ruiz, J.M., Sullivan, D., O’Connor, M-F. (2023) The relationship of prolonged grief disorder symptoms with hemodynamic response to grief recall among bereaved adults. Psychosomatic Medicine  DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001223
• Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D. M., Peacock, C., Grant, G. H., Dunlop, B. W., Raison, C. L. (2023) The importance of integrating Spiritual, Existential, Religious, and Theological components in psychedelic-assisted therapies. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.1554 
• Hsu, B. & Palitsky, R. (2023) Maintaining, Relinquishing, and Adapting Bonds in Bereavement: A Qualitative Study of Grave Sweeping in China. Social Science and Medicine – Mental Health.
• Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D. M., Brener, S. A., Mascaro, J., Mehl, M. R., Sullivan, D. (2022) Do Worldviews Matter for Implementation-Relevant Responses to Mindfulness-Based Interventions? An Empirical Investigation of Existential and Religious Perspectives. Mindfulness.
• Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D. M., Brodt, M. A., Anderson, M.*, Athey, A.*, Coffino, J. A.*, Egbert, A.*, Hallowell, E. S.*, Han, G.*, Hartmann, M-A.*, Herbitter, C.*, Herrera Legon, M.*, Hughes, C.*, Jao, N.*, Kassel, M. T.*, Le, T-A. P.*, Levin-Aspenson, H. F.*, Lopez, G.*, Maroney, M.*, Medrano, M.*, Reznik, S.J.*, Rogers, M.*, Stevenson, B.* (2022) Systemic challenges in health service psychology internship training: A call to action from trainee stakeholders. Clinical Psychological Science.
• Palitsky, R. & Kaplan, D. M. (2021) The role of religion for Mindfulness-Based Interventions: implications for dissemination and implementation. Mindfulness, 12, 2076–2089. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01253-0
• Palitsky, R., Sullivan, D., Dong, S., Young, I. (2019) Worldviews and the Construal of Suffering from Depression. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 3(4), 191–208. DOI: 10.1002/jts5.46
• See full list of publications

*denotes shared authorship

Awards

• Outstanding Postdoctoral Trainee Award (2022) – Society for Behavioral Medicine Integrative Health and Spirituality SIG
• Meritorious Abstract Award (2020) – Society for Behavioral Medicine

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