The Saisei Foundation is a nonprofit foundation focused on cutting-edge scientific research and other uncrowded bets.
Note from Founder Tim Ferriss
From 2007–2017, I personally and primarily focused on innovation in education as a means of leveling the playing field. This includes K–12 and higher education, both in the US and abroad.
In 2012, I donated to the research of Dr. Adam Gazzaley at UCSF, considering it just as exciting as any startup in the world. That research ended up the “Game Changer” cover story of Nature in its September 2nd, 2013, issue (“Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults”). This encouraged me to think bigger.
In 2018, I created the Saisei Foundation to focus on ambitious scientific research and clinical treatments of “intractable” conditions, such as treatment-resistant depression, opioid addiction, anorexia nervosa, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This interest stems from personal experience, including childhood abuse, lifelong major depressive disorder, and the helpless feeling of watching multiple family members lose their lives to addiction (alcohol and opiates).
The Saisei Foundation has supported some significant firsts and early successes.
In the last several years, the Saisei Foundation has expanded its scope to include other early-stage research and high-leverage nonprofit initiatives, such as life-extension technologies.
Thank you for visiting us.
Tim
We support unorthodox research that explores treating conditions that are widely considered “untreatable” and projects that challenge existing paradigms within science and medicine.
Notable Projects
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research
This became the world’s largest and the US’s first psychedelic research center. The New York Times wrote an article about the center and separately profiled Tim Ferriss about the project. Scientific American, Forbes, and The Washington Post covered the center as well.
The Centre for Psychedelics Research at Imperial College
The Centre is the world’s first and focuses on the action and clinical use of psychedelics, with a particular focus on researching the treatment of depression. You can read the press release here. The Centre has been featured in The New York Times and Business Insider.
Want to learn more about other notable projects?
See the full list of initiatives supported by the Saisei Foundation.