Upcoming in February 2025, we are thrilled to welcome back our dear friend and renown Ethnobotanist Dr. Dennis McKenna along with best-selling author and Anthropologist Dr. Wade Davis. The McKenna Academy’s mission centers around the preservation of indigenous knowledge pertaining to traditionally utilized medicinal plants and fungi. A further aspect of its mission is to create bridges between traditional medicine and science, thereby cross-fertilizing and enriching both fields.

In this spirit, the McKenna Academy is organizing a Science and Policy Forum on Coca, that will provide an opportunity for experts in a diversity of fields to meet and share information and perspectives on this very complex issue. The forum will take place at Willka T’ika, and will be limited to an exclusive group of scientists, donors, and friends of the McKenna Academy. The Academy will sponsor a special conference, featuring 10-15 keynote speakers and panel discussions. It will also include Coca ceremonies and presentations from indigenous members of local communities for whom Coca is central in cultural and spiritual life.