Michael Mithoefer spent a decade of his early career as a board certified emergency medical physician. He is certified in internal medicine and in 1991 he became certified in psychiatry. He and Annie Mithoefer have a private practice of psychiatry in clinical research in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. On November 2nd, 2001, Michael and Annie obtained FDA approval to run a clinical trial in the United States giving MDMA in combination with psychotherapy to treat chronic treatment resistant, post-traumatic stress disorder. The first experimental session of his Phase II clinical trial happened in April of 2004. This is a historic, groundbreaking study.