Our team

Innate is founded and run by clinicians – medical and psychological professionals – who care deeply about the work we do. We combine our skill and experience to bring safe, compassionate, patient-centric ketamine therapy to Marin County. We look forward to accompanying you on your journey to wellbeing.

Headshot of Carl Spitzer, founder and medical director at Innate Ketamine Therapy

Carl Spitzer MD

Innate’s founder Carl Spitzer, MD is a board-certified emergency physician who has spent decades caring for his neighbors in Marin County at MarinHealth Medical Center’s emergency department.

In 2018, Carl completed a yearlong training at the California Institute for Integral Studies Certificate Program in Psychedelic Therapy and Research, and subsequently received additional specialized training in ketamine-assisted therapy (KAT). He has since worked with hundreds of clients facilitating thousands of KAT sessions.

Carl is the founder of Big Tent Ketamine, an online community of over 3,400 medical and mental health professionals who work with therapeutic ketamine. He has an international reputation in this work.

Headshot of Tia Mallette, co-founder at Innate Ketamine Therapy

Tia Mallette RN BSN

Tia Mallette, RN, BSN has been a bedside nurse for over two decades at the University of California in San Francisco. She comes from a background in obstetrics, where she has provided expert care and calm, supporting countless people in their transition to parenthood. Tia has accompanied people during their highest highs, and held them through unimaginable tragedy. She is skilled at sitting with people in vulnerable situations, and is excited to apply her many years of bedside experience and expert clinical skills in this cutting edge field.

Headshot of Nan Herron, psychiatrist at Innate Ketamine Therapy

Nan Herron MD

Nan Herron, MD is a Board-Certified adult and child psychiatrist. She completed a "Triple Board" residency at Brown University, combining pediatrics with adult and child psychiatry, before engaging in a PTSD Fellowship in Boston with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, where she gained expertise working with patients with Complex PTSD. She has 28 years of experience supporting people in cultivating resilience in the face of everyday challenges as well as traumatic experiences.

She has worked in many inpatient as well as outpatient settings, addressing a large variety of symptoms in people of all ages and backgrounds. She is a registered yoga teacher and trained in self-compassion and stress-reduction meditation interventions, EMDR, dialectical behavioral therapy, and brain spotting. She has a particular interest in psychedelic therapy and has completed training with the Integrative Psychiatry Institute.

Headshot of Scott Barshack, psychiatrist at Innate Ketamine Therapy

Scott Barshack MD

Scott Barshack, MD is a board certified psychiatrist who has been practicing in Marin County for over 30 years. After spending about 20 years as the Medical Director of Psychiatry at Marin General Hospital, he then devoted himself full time to the private practice of psychopharmacology. Over the past 5 years, he has also served as the Medical Director of Paradigm San Francisco, a residential treatment program for teens and young adults. Scott is very excited about the potential benefits of ketamine especially in patients who have failed to respond to standard psychopharmacology.

Virginia Wade RN BSN

Virginia Wade, RN, BSN specializes in mental health care, dividing her time between Innate Ketamine Therapy and Santa Rosa Behavioral Health Hospital. She is currently enrolled in UC Berkeley’s Psychedelic Facilitation Certificate Program, graduating in May 2024. Beyond her professional pursuits, Virginia is a dedicated Ashtanga yogi and meditator in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Her compassionate approach is informed by decades of experience supporting individuals recovering from addiction, alcoholism and family dysfunction.