Editor and medical reviewer
Shariq Refai, MD, MBA
Board-certified psychiatrist. Founder of shrinkMD, a multistate telepsychiatry practice. Author. Editor and medical reviewer of DepressionResource.org.
Every clinical page on this site is written and reviewed under his name.
Verified profiles
- ORCID iD: 0009-0009-1090-4373
- Wikidata: Q139822307
- NPI: 1467680660 (National Provider Identifier, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
For press attribution and credential verification, you can also confirm the reviewer's credentials directly at the NPI Registry, a public CMS resource.
Background
Dr. Refai is a board-certified psychiatrist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. His clinical work focuses on adult psychiatry, with deep experience in mood disorders, anxiety disorders, treatment-resistant depression, and the practical realities of medication management in routine practice.
He holds an MBA in addition to the MD, and has spent much of his career building and running care delivery organizations alongside seeing patients.
Current work
Dr. Refai is the founder of shrinkMD, a telepsychiatry practice that provides psychiatric evaluation and medication management where licensed. The practice is a clinical service; this site is a public education resource. The two are editorially separate. The relationship is disclosed on every page that references the practice and in full on the About page.
On DepressionResource.org, Dr. Refai is the editor and the named medical reviewer on every clinical page. The review process is described on the Medical Review Process page.
Areas of clinical interest
- Major depressive disorder, including treatment-resistant presentations
- Persistent depressive disorder and chronic depression
- Antidepressant pharmacology, including switching, augmentation, and tapering
- Suicide risk assessment and safety planning
- Anxiety disorders and their overlap with depression
- Telepsychiatry and access to mental health care
Books
Dr. Refai is the author of three books on mental health written for the general reader. The list, with publishers and editions, is on the Books page on this site.
Editorial role on this site
Every clinical page on DepressionResource.org carries his "Reviewed by" byline. Pages are reviewed against current clinical guidelines (American Psychiatric Association, NICE, USPSTF, ACOG, and AACAP, among others) and against current peer-reviewed literature. Pages are dated. The review schedule and corrections process are public.
For full editorial standards, see the Editorial Standards page. For the source list, see Sources and Evidence.
Disclosures
- Dr. Refai is the founder of shrinkMD, a clinical practice referenced on this site. This relationship is disclosed on every page that references the practice and is the basis for the affiliate disclosure on the Treatment page.
- Dr. Refai has no industry consulting relationships with pharmaceutical companies or device makers.
- Dr. Refai does not accept payment from any third party for placement on this site.
- This site does not accept advertisements, sponsored content, paid placements, or affiliate revenue from any other source.
Contact
For editorial inquiries, source questions, corrections, or media: support@depressionresource.org.
Please do not include medical history, symptoms, or other protected health information in email. Email is not a secure channel and is not monitored for clinical purposes.
For Dr. Refai's broader work, including writing and speaking: shariqrefai.com.