Shariq Refai, MD, MBA

Shariq Refai is a board-certified psychiatrist. He reviews the clinical content on AnxietyResearch.org and signs off on it before it goes live. He founded shrinkMD, a telepsychiatry practice licensed across several states, and he writes books for general readers about anxiety and overthinking.

Before medical school he worked night shifts as a psychiatric technician while finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of North Florida. He has said that job taught him early that mental illness doesn't sort people by income, job title, or background. It is part of why he went into psychiatry.

He earned his medical degree at St. George's University School of Medicine. He completed residency training at the University of Hawaii and at John Peter Smith Hospital in Texas. He later finished an MBA at Duke University and additional training at Columbia University, including certificates in electroconvulsive therapy and in obesity medicine. He holds two board certifications: general psychiatry, and sports and performance psychiatry.

Most of his clinical and writing work deals with anxiety, panic, and the kind of repetitive thinking that doesn't show up on a lab test but still runs a person's day. He founded shrinkMD after concluding that much of digital psychiatry had been built for volume rather than for continuity of care. The practice is organized around seeing the same clinician over time.

On AnxietyResearch.org, Dr. Refai's role is editorial. He checks that each page reflects its cited sources, that claims stay inside what the research supports, and that nothing on the site reads as individualized medical advice. He doesn't write every page. His review is what separates a sourced summary from a clinically checked one. He holds the same editorial role at the two sister sites, AnxietyResource.org and DepressionResource.org.

Dr. Refai writes books for general readers about anxiety, panic, and overthinking, published by shrinkMD Publishing, LLC. AnxietyResearch.org lists them as related reading and doesn't sell them.