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Lowan Stewart is the founder and medical director of Axonklinikken, and a board member of Axon Research Foundation. He is a specialist in emergency medicine (MD) with more than 20 years of clinical experience.

Stewart founded Insight Ketamine in New Mexico in 2016 and helped build Scandinavia’s first public ketamine unit at Østfold Hospital. In 2018 he founded Axonklinikken, which today operates two clinics and has delivered several thousand treatments.

He is a co-founder of the Norwegian Association for Psychedelic Science and of NorRAD, the Norwegian network for rapid-acting antidepressants. Research from this network underpinned Norway becoming, in 2025, the first country in the world to grant public reimbursement for ketamine treatment. That same year he received the Pioneer Award at the Nordic Psychedelic Awards.

Stewart is a minority shareholder in Axonklinikken.

The clinical evidence is strong. What we need now is the courage to act and the structures to do it safely.

Selected publications

  1. Interdisciplinary, Delphi-driven consensus guidelines on the use of intravenous ketamine infusions for depressive disorders from the American Society of Ketamine Physicians, Psychotherapists, and Practitioners (ASKP3)

    Mathai DS, et al. (incl. Stewart LH)

    Journal of Affective Disorders, 2026Peer-reviewed

  2. MDMA-assisted therapy for major depressive disorder: A seven-month follow-up proof of principle trial

    Kvam TM, Goksøyr IW, Rog J, van de Vooren ITJ, Stewart LH, et al.

    Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2026Peer-reviewed

  3. Transforming treatment-resistant depression care in Norway: Public health reimbursement for off-label intravenous ketamine

    Stewart LH, Berthold-Losleben M, Kvam TM, Lien L, Andreassen OA, Clausen I

    Drug Science, Policy and Law, 2026Commentary

  4. Klinisk og ikke-klinisk bruk av MDMA

    Kvam TM, Goksøyr IW, Stewart LH, Berthold-Losleben M, Autran I, Andreassen OA

    Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2026Commentary

  5. MDMA-assisted therapy as a treatment for major depressive disorder: proof of principle study

    Kvam TM, Goksøyr IW, Rog J, van de Vooren ITJ, Stewart LH, et al.

    The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2025Peer-reviewed

  6. Contextual and experiential aspects of the psychedelic experience predicting improvement in subjective wellbeing: results from a Norwegian internet convenience sample

    Tunstad PA, Kvam TM, Uthaug MV, Stewart LH, Andersen KAA, Grønnerød C

    Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2025Peer-reviewed

  7. Ketaminbehandling ved terapiresistent depresjon

    Berthold-Losleben M, Autran I, Folstad RLS, Römer B, Kvam TM, van de Vooren IT, et al. (incl. Stewart LH)

    Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2025Clinical

  8. Reconnecting through dissociation: a 5-month follow-up case study on ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa

    Dahlgren CL, Tverrli E, Stewart LH

    Journal of Eating Disorders, 2025Clinical

  9. Ketaminassistert psykoterapi for anorexia nervosa

    Dahlgren CL, Tverrli E, Stewart LH

    Tidsskrift for Norsk psykologforening, 2025Clinical

  10. Epidemiology of classic psychedelic substances: results from a Norwegian internet convenience sample

    Kvam TM, Uthaug MV, Andersen KAA, Refsum BB, Tunstad PA, Stewart LH, et al.

    Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2023Peer-reviewed

  11. Ketamin ved depresjon – evidens og forslag til praksis

    Kvam TM, Stewart LH, Blomkvist AW, Andreassen OA

    Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2021Clinical

  12. A Global Workspace, Evolution-Based Model of the Effect of Psychedelics on Consciousness

    Grinde B, Stewart L

    Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2020Peer-reviewed

  13. Psykedeliske stoffer i behandling av angst, depresjon og avhengighet

    Kvam TM, Stewart LH, Andreassen OA

    Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2018Commentary

  14. The dissociative psychedelic renaissance

    Stewart LH

    Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 2018Commentary

  15. Ny kurs for rusmidler

    Blomkvist AW, Eika F, Eika S, Mowé M, Stewart L, Zahid W, Asplin SW

    Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 2017Commentary