You’re invited to join a panel discussion on Veterans Experiences of Supervised Psychedelic Assisted Healing Retreats featuring the founder and Head of Community Engagement’s outreach from the Truxtun Foundation as well as Sargent’s Health Sciences faculty, alumni, and students.This event will be broadcasted online, while in person attendance is also offered.
Event Speakers:
CJ LoConte - Co-Founder & CEO | The Truxtun Foundation
CJ LoConte is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, where he was a Division I lacrosse player before commissioning as an Infantry Officer in the 4th Infantry Division.
After his military service, CJ earned an MBA from The Wharton School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. His passion for mental health and performance led him to found Truxtun Foundation, a veteran-led nonprofit building the next generation of transition infrastructure for veterans and high-responsibility leaders. Truxtun combines coaching, community, and retreat-based programming to help participants restore clarity and purpose after periods of intense service or leadership.
CJ is focused on expanding Truxtun’s nonprofit impact through scholarship-funded programming, veteran advocacy, university partnerships, and research that strengthens the case for new models of healing and post-service leadership development.
Tommy Connelly - Head of Community Engagement | The Truxtun Foundation
Tommy Connelly is a graduate of Boston University, where he played Division I lacrosse from 2014 to 2018 as a member of the program's second NCAA team. After graduating, he served in the United States Navy as a Military Working Dog Handler. While stationed in Key West, he served as the lead kennel trainer and supported numerous United States Secret Service missions involving executive protection and counterterrorism operations.
Tommy is currently pursuing an MBA at Boston College's Carroll School of Management and serves as Head of Community Engagement for the Truxtun Foundation, where he focuses on growing the veteran community, strengthening partnerships, and expanding access to the organization's programming.
Shannon Peters, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Health Science Program
Boston University | Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Shannon Peters is a licensed psychologist and a Clinical Assistant Professor at Boston University. Their teaching is informed by feminist theory, liberation psychology, and critical psychology. Their clinical interests include LGBTQ+ mental health, transgender affirming healthcare, and emerging adulthood. Their research aims to challenge dominant assumptions that pathologize non-normative experiences and medicalize responses to oppression in order to promote inclusive physical and mental health care and foster resilient communities.
Isabella P. Ramos
CAS'27, SAR'27, SPH'28 |Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Services
Isabella Ramos is a Health Science student on the 4+1 BS/MPH program with Boston University's School of Public Health, where she plans to concentrate in Healthcare Administration and Management. Her interests include healthcare systems, public health, and improving access to quality care through effective leadership.
Melody Saunders
CAS'28 | Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Melody Saunders is a junior from Chester, Connecticut, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Public Health at Boston University. As a research assistant on the Truxtun project, she has focused on transcript and data analysis. She is interested in the promise of psilocybin-assisted healing as trauma treatment. Outside the lab, Melody is actively involved in CAS Student Government, the Child & Adolescent Psychology Association, and Industrial-Organizational Psychology research.
Shelley M. Brown, PhD, MPH | Program Director and Clinical Associate Professor, Health Science
Boston University | Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Shelley Brown, PhD, MPH is a Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director in the Department of Health Sciences. Dr. Brown's research focuses on the key linkages between health, human development and human rights, especially women's mental health during the perinatal period and health system responses to intimate partner violence, with a focus on how services are designed to recognize trauma and who they reach. Her work spans the United States and South Africa and is deeply interdisciplinary, engaging health equity, global health, health systems and women's health, and utilizing both health systems information and qualitative research to inform proposed changes in policy and clinical practice.
Kelly Pesanelli,
PT, MSPT | Master Lecturer, Health Science
Boston University | Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Kelly Pesanelli PT, MS is a senior lecturer in Boston University Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences in both the Health Sciences and Human Physiology Departments. She began her career as a physical therapist specializing in outpatient orthopedics/occupational medicine before joining the faculty at Sargent College full-time. She currently teaches The Organization and Delivery of Health Care in the United States which is a required course for almost every undergraduate student in Sargent College as well as Advanced Regional Anatomy – an advanced cadaveric dissection course. Her professional area of research includes assessing the social determinants of health in the custodial workforce and the prevention of occupational injuries. In addition to teaching full-time, she also directs an injury prevention program for all Boston University employees.