Dr. Jeffrey S. Barkin

Dr. Jeff Barkin is a Portland-based forensic and clinical psychiatrist whose practice spans clinical care, expert testimony, and the harder questions at the edge of the field, including trauma, sleep, mood, and the many ways the brain and body talk to one another. He is a past president of the Maine Medical Association and remains active in the state's medical and civic communities.

Dr. Barkin has extensive clinical trial experience and previously served as associate medical director overseeing multiple state Medicaid pharmacy programs. He continues to focus on multi-stakeholder initiatives in healthcare and beyond, consulting to a range of companies and organizations in that capacity.

Beyond the clinic, Dr. Barkin is an award-winning multimedia journalist who writes and speaks frequently on health policy, mental health, and public affairs. Through his work in radio and print, he has consistently emphasized civil discourse and data-driven analysis, the same instincts he brings to every episode of A Healthy Conversation.

On the show, his role is as much listener as host. He follows a question into the qualifications and second thoughts that thirty-second TV cuts off, and he is unafraid to say "I don't know" when the science actually doesn't.