GoDaddy Billionaire Backs Experimental Psychedelic Treatment Center
On the third floor of a Mount Sinai extension building in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Bob and Renee Parsons grasp a pair of large scissors and cut a blue ribbon stretching across the room. As the two sides fall to the floor, an intimate audience of scientists, veterans, and United States politicians erupts into applause: The new location of the Parson's Research Center for Psychedelic Healing is open.
Originally called the Center for Psychedelic Therapy Research, the new center will be a place to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs such as ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA for a variety of treatment uses including PTSD but also eating disorders, depression, addiction , and even couples therapy.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, which also saw the center renamed after their biggest benefactors, comes weeks after the FDA denied the first-ever application for MDMA therapy. Prohibiting medical use of the substance colloquially known as "molly" and reinforcing its Schedule I classification, the early-August decision rejecting Lykos Therapeutics' application for MDMA treatment citing omitted information and integrity concerns related to trials presented for review as some of the reasons behind the decision.
"The FDA did not approve MDMA assisted therapy, and that left us really at a crossroads," says Rachel Yehuda, PhD, who serves as the center's director. "When Bob said, 'I think we'd like to keep supporting you,' it was like lighting a match in the darkness. It really was."
"Together we have discovered how powerful psychedelics can really be for people," says Yehuda. "The stories of transformation that we've heard and been a part of are just amazing."
Despite the regulatory setbacks, Parsons, who is worth an estimated $3.9 billion, remains steadfast in his support. He and Renee have donated $5 million to help establish the new center, which comes after a previous $5 million donation in 2021 that provided psychedelic training for 250 clinicians.
Parsons' interest in psychedelics began in 2018 when, after reading Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind, he traveled to Hawaii and "tripped" on a variety of psychedelics ranging from psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to DMT (the active ingredient in ayahuasca). Through participation in sessions led by two 'under-the-radar' guides, Parsons worked through his personal traumas over the course of four days.
"Getting treated with psychedelics is not a fun thing. Lots of tears, lots of pain," says Parsons, who made his initial billion dollar fortune from web hosting firm GoDaddy.com. He sold off his remaining stake and stepped down from the board in 2018, the same year he went to Hawaii. "[But] when I was finished, I was a different guy again. I was like the way I should have been, I was actually better than I was before I went to Vietnam."
Parsons, who shipped out to Vietnam with the Marines Corps when he was only 18 and came back with a Purple Heart, experienced debilitating PTSD for almost 50 years after returning home. Like many veterans, exposure to war changed Parsons, affecting his life significantly long after he stepped off of the battlefield. It cost him two marriages and changed his personality, making him much more intense, says Parsons, who adds that after a four day psychedelic retreat, he finally "came home" 49 years after Vietnam.
Even with his struggles, or perhaps in part because of them, Parsons has started several successful businesses including Parsons Technology, which he sold to Intuit for $64 million in 1994, and PXG, which makes high-performance golf equipment and apparel. Nowadays he also owns commercial real estate, motorcycle dealerships, a production company and the Scottsdale National Golf Club in Arizona. With his wife Renee, he's also given away nearly $300 million to charities since 2012.
The Manhattan center, which will keep its psychedelic drugs secure in an over-2000 lb. safe, houses six treatment rooms along with one group therapy room – all come equipped with soothing color schemes, cozy couches with soft throw blankets, and speakers pre-loaded with ambient music. Each room also includes a ceiling camera, recording video data and delivering live-feeds to an observation office down the hallway. According to study therapist Tamar Glatman Zaretsky, PsyD., hundreds of individuals have contacted the research team eager to participate in the study.
While the therapeutic use of psychedelics is still in its research phase, Bob Parsons and the team at Mount Sinai have high hopes for the future of the field. With added support from other influential figures such as Senator Kyrsten Sinema and sibling-to-Elon Kimbal Musk, The Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing may one day go down as an early-player in a new wave of mainstream medicine.
Says Parsons, "We know [psychedelic therapy] works, and we're proud to be associated with this."
