Our Story

We have been working in partnership with Indigenous healers in the Peruvian Amazon for the last decade. Now we’re expanding our mission.

Dr Simon Ruffell, Co-Founder and Director

In 2015, as a psychiatrist disillusioned with mental healthcare in the UK and intrigued by global alternatives, I found myself in ceremony with Don Rono Lopez (pictured above), a traditional healer from Shipibo lineage working with ayahuasca and other Amazonian plant medicines.

Humbled by the profound experiences and depth of knowledge I had encountered, I I conducted, and eventually published, a self-funded scientific study with my colleague Nige Netzband. This marked the start of a lasting relationship with the Lopez family and their Shipibo community: grounded in a dedication to bridging traditional Indigenous knowledge and modern scientific methods, exploring the effects of psycho-spiritual technologies on mind, body and spirit.

With an ever-growing team, we have been conducting ground-breaking research ever since, following funding from the British Medical Research Council, publications of ground-breaking results, a PhD in Amazonian Ayahuasca, and an ongoing five-year study of plant medicines for military veterans suffering from trauma.

Whereas our colleagues used to tell us this was career suicide, we are now giving TED talks and publishing in top journals every year, and have started working with different traditions and different allies from the plant and fungal kingdoms, in settings extending beyond the Amazon rainforest.

We are committed to sharing our findings in accessible forms, and putting what we learn into practice: into evidence-based programs and resources that combine traditional and contemporary models of care, with a commitment to holistic healing and interethnic collaboration for the benefit of individuals, communities, and the more-than-human world.

Onaya Science is a not-for-profit founded to research Amazonian healing modalities such as ayahuasca, working towards the recognition - rather than supposed ‘validation’ - of Indigenous plant medicines and ceremonial practices.

At Onaya Science, we believe in the value of the traditional, local knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples as well as that of biomedical science.

We are a multi-disciplinary team of academics, clinicians, and spiritual healers who are committed to working alongside Indigenous collaborators to translate knowledge of plant medicines, where possible, into scientific data and terminology. Consideration and respect for Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin and beyond always come foremost in our work.

Through humility, curiosity and cautious critique of different paradigms, we believe we can learn how different modes of thinking and experiencing the world map on to one another, and where they may diverge.

In doing so, we hope that we can develop a richer understanding and greater recognition of plant medicines, traditional healing practices and Indigenous worldviews.

“One who knows”

In Shipibo, onaya translates as “one who knows”, denoting a healer who works with oni (the Shipibo name for Ayahuasca, but also meaning “wisdom” or “knowledge”)

“The onaya mediates disputes between humans and the rest of life. This is, in essence, the core insight that guides the medical and therapeutic understanding of the ones who know: human health and wellbeing is inherently and inextricably relational. Human affliction, sickness and misfortune are a direct result of disharmonious relationship. In the Amazonian landscape, sickness never happens in a vacuum; it is always a result of a breach of reciprocity, in one way or another.”


~ Adam Aronovich (“Mother Ayahuasca Told Me”, 2025, p. 212)

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew from the Amazon rainforest. It has been used for hundreds - if not thousands - of years for a range of purposes, from healing to hunting.

Ayahuasca is many different things to many different people. Very simply put, it is a mix of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, also known as the Ayahuasca vine, and usually some leaves that contain the potent psychedelic Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) - often the Chacruna leaf Psychotria viridis (Chacruna).

Preliminary Research

So far, research both in the Amazon and in labs suggests that ayahuasca can positively affect mental health conditions such as PTSD, depression and anxiety, with changes often sustained for up to six months. However, much more research is needed.

We have also found some evidence of changes in personality, nature-connectedness, lifestyle, and the expression of genes.

Safety of Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca has a good safety profile when important measures such as screening protocols and preparation are in place. Long-term use is not known to have negative effects on cognition or mental health. However, certain pre-existing conditions (such as history of psychosis), medications (such as anti-depressants) or environmental factors (such as unscrupulous or unethical practitioners) increase the possibility of harmful experiences.

We recommend ICEERS and the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project for more detailed safety information.

Our Values

  • Reciprocity

    We are committed to acting in reciprocal relationship with Indigenous healers based on benefit sharing.

  • Openness

    We approach Indigenous from a place of openness: viewing them not (necessarily) as metaphors or theology but as part of valuable traditional knowledge systems.

  • Integrity

    We give careful thought to the numerous ethical issues we encounter and try to always act from a place of integrity.

  • Collaboration

    We collaborate and consult with Indigenous practitioners as well as experts from a range of disciplines.

  • Respect for Tradition

    We listen to those who have worked with traditional plant medicines for generations and honour their practices and systems of knowledge.

  • Accessibility

    We believe in sharing the things we learn in ways that are accessible and inclusive.

The Shipibo Mahua-Lopez Lineage

Most of our research, collaboration and apprenticeship has been with the Shipibo Mahua-Lopez healers based in the llpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve and nearby areas around Iquitos.

The Lopez family - Rono, Enrique, Miguel, and Angela - are the latest in a long and powerful Shipibo lineage, passing vast knowledge of the jungle from generation to generation, dieting with plants and working with ayahuasca since their early childhood.

Working alongside Don Wilder Mahua and his family, Master Plant Dietas are the cornerstone of their ‘curanderismo’ (shamanic healing).

There are five key master plants, also known as the ‘cinco medicos’. Some - too sacred to name - were thought to have disappeared from the jungle for decades, until they showed up in recent times, first in their dreams and visions, and then on their land.

According to Shipibo cosmology, the reappearance of certain healing master plants are a way for the rainforest to communicate with humans and induce changes in our behaviour, to come into right relationship with ourselves and the rest of nature.

Plant Dietas

The main method of training in Shipibo curanderismo - and other forms of Indigenous shamanism and working with plants across many cultures - is performing a ‘dieta’ (diet) with particular plants (e.g. Marusa and Bobinsana).

Dieting involves going into (near) isolation for days, weeks or months, ingesting extracts of the ‘master’ or ‘teacher’ plant while fasting and abstaining from sexual activity alongside ayahuasca ceremonies.

According to the Shipibo, this gruelling process facilitates close contact with the spirit (or the essence, character or ‘plantness’) of the plant, through dreams, visions, songs, or altered perception and intuition.

Are plants spirits really ‘real’, or is dieting just a matter of connecting to parts of oneself? These are big questions that we have spent years grappling with, but our suspicion is that they may be misguided. What is undeniable is that dieting is an ancient and powerful practice, without which the ritual use of ayahuasca makes little sense.

Marusa

Bobinsana