Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) campaign paid nearly $19,000 to a Harvard-trained psychiatrist whose practice includes ketamine therapy, according to federal campaign finance records cited by the New York Post.
The payments went to Boston-based Dr. Brian Boyle, chief psychiatric officer at Stella, a network of mental health clinics offering several treatments, including ketamine therapy. The campaign filings, however, described the expenses as “leadership training and consulting,” not medical treatment.
Federal Election Commission records reportedly show three separate payments to Boyle during 2025. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign paid him $11,550 in March, $2,800 in May and another $4,375 in October.
Combined, those expenditures totaled $18,725, according to the Post.
In fact, the available records only establish that her campaign paid Boyle for services categorized as leadership training and consulting. It remains unclear exactly what those services involved or who participated in them.
Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not respond when the Post sought additional information about the expenditures.
Boyle is a Harvard-trained physician who describes himself as an “interventional psychiatrist.” His work includes treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and treatment-resistant depression.
His professional biography also describes him as an authority on ketamine therapy.
Ketamine is used medically as an anesthetic and can also be administered in certain clinical settings to treat some psychiatric conditions. The drug has simultaneously attracted attention because of its potential for misuse.
Boyle has publicly discussed his enthusiasm for the treatments offered through his field.
“I just saw the incredible power of what these treatments could do,” Boyle said during a podcast appearance last year, according to the Post.
“It’s a ton of fun helping patients get better,” he added.
The psychiatrist’s clinic also provides stellate ganglion block treatments, another procedure that has drawn interest from high-profile and wealthy patients.
The procedure involves administering a local anesthetic near a group of nerves in the neck known as the stellate ganglion.
The central question surrounding the campaign expenditures remains what exactly Ocasio-Cortez’s operation received in exchange for the nearly $19,000.
Campaign finance records categorize all three payments as consulting and leadership training, and the records cited in the report provide no evidence that campaign money was used to purchase ketamine or pay for Ocasio-Cortez’s personal medical treatment, according to the Conservative Brief.
That distinction is significant given Boyle’s profession and his association with ketamine-based treatments.
Without additional information from the campaign, the precise nature of the leadership training remains unclear.
The expenditures come as Ocasio-Cortez remains one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent national figures, with continued speculation surrounding her political future.
For now, the federal records establish the payments and their stated purpose, but they do not answer who participated in Boyle’s consulting sessions or what services he provided for the $18,725 spent by Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign.
