What if we could change the world by changing our minds?

As a public health specialist and mental health futurist, Khaliya sees mental health as among the most crucial social issues of the coming century. She harnesses the power of storytelling to unlock advancements in global public and mental health. Khaliya believes that the solution to the ever-worsening mental health crisis may lie in an unlikely place; the field of psychedelic medicine. Since 2014 she has been campaigning for the exploration of psychedelic research.

Together we can shift the paradigm.

Khaliya is a public health specialist and sought-after speaker on the global mental health crisis. The youngest member of The World Economic Forum’s Expert Advisory on the Future of Health and Healthcare, Khaliya worked as an HIV specialist and auditing member of the board of the Aga Khan Development Network, the largest private development organization in the world. That work took her to over 30 countries as a health specialist and as part of diplomatic delegations throughout Africa and Asia.

Prior, Khaliya was part of a research team focused on infectious disease and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and worked to negotiate lower-cost opportunistic infections drugs for YRG Care AIDS hospital in India. In 2013, Khaliya founded Falkora, a non-profit designed to inspire innovation in mental health by working with promising ideas and emerging talent in the mental health and wellness space.

Khaliya was the recipient of both the 2016 Middelthon-Candler Peace Prize and the 2017 Clare Boothe Luce Award for International Service. A former member of the Board of Directors for Venture for America, Khaliya also served on the advisory boards of the postnatal care nonprofit Embrace, Nexus Global Youth Summit, and Charity Miles.

Khaliya has worked with the Clinton Global Initiative LEAD program for young change-makers and has spoken on health issues at The White House’s United States of Women Summit, The World Economic Forum Family Business Summit, The PSI Maverick Collective Meeting at the Palace of Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess of Norway, The Near Future Summit, The American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Clinton Global Initiative University, Nexus Global Youth Summit, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, The NOVUS Summit at the United Nations General Assembly, TEDxBeaconStreet, Katapult Future Fest, Wired Health, Web Summit, Women's Brain Project, and various others.

Khaliya is a graduate of New York University and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria during the country’s post-Communism transition period. She is currently writing a book on the future of mental health with a particular emphasis on new modalities, including psychedelic medicine.