About Shafi Lodhi, MD
Shafi Lodhi, MD, is a forensic neuropsychiatrist and expert witness with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Research Triangle of North Carolina. He is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry and in Forensic Psychiatry, completed dual fellowships at Stanford University School of Medicine in Neuropsychiatry and in Forensic Psychiatry, and accepts engagements from plaintiff and defense counsel nationwide.
Where Brain Science Meets the Law
Dr. Lodhi is one of the few physicians in the United States with dual fellowship training in both neuropsychiatry and forensic psychiatry. His work sits at the point where an injury or illness to the brain becomes a legal question: whether a head strike explains a change in behavior, whether an aging testator understood the will she signed, whether a defendant's neurologic condition bears on competency or responsibility. Answering those questions well requires a physician who can move from the imaging and the medication record to the mental status examination to the legal standard, and back again, in a single coherent opinion.
In most litigation involving brain injury and behavior, a neurologist addresses the injury and a psychiatrist addresses the behavioral claim, and the gap between their opinions becomes a target on cross-examination. Combined training in neuropsychiatry and forensic psychiatry lets one physician carry the analysis from the imaging and medication record, through the mental status examination, to the legal standard, connecting the injury to the outcome in a single opinion rather than leaving that link to argument between two experts.
Before Stanford, he was Chief Resident in Psychiatric Emergency Services at the University of Cincinnati, and he has treated patients without interruption since residency. When the records will not support an opinion, the report says so.
A normal scan does not close a head-injury claim, and an abnormal one does not prove that any particular deficit followed from it. Much of the work is separating organic conditions from functional or non-credible presentations, and writing the distinction so a court can use it. Dr. Lodhi is retained by plaintiff and defense counsel and accepts court-appointed engagements nationwide.
Board Certifications and Fellowships
Dr. Lodhi is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Psychiatry and in Forensic Psychiatry. He completed two subspecialty fellowships at Stanford University School of Medicine: a Neuropsychiatry Fellowship (2021–2022) and a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship (2022–2023).
Education and Training
Dr. Lodhi completed his undergraduate education at the University of Missouri, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology, and was named a National Merit Scholar. He earned his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in 2017. He then completed a psychiatry residency at the University of Cincinnati (2017–2021), where he served as Chief Resident in Psychiatric Emergency Services, directing acute assessment and crisis care in a high-volume emergency setting.
Present Roles
Dr. Lodhi is a Neuropsychiatry Consultant at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley (2025–present). He is the Founder and Medical Director of Bay Area Neuropsychiatry (2021–present), a California telepsychiatry practice treating the full range of adult conditions, including ADHD, depression, anxiety, and OCD, as well as complex neuropsychiatric care. He also maintains a private practice at Lodestar Psychiatry in Cary, North Carolina. He serves on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Mental Health Registry and on the Forensic Neuropsychiatry Committee of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, and he is a member of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Through the Education Committee of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders, he has moderated national webinars on adult ADHD.
Prior Academic Roles
Dr. Lodhi formerly served as Part-Time Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Staff Psychiatrist, Massachusetts General Hospital (2024–2025).
Forensic and Court Experience
Dr. Lodhi has been qualified as an expert in the Santa Clara County Superior Court and in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) hearings. He served as a Forensic Evaluator on the Santa Clara County Superior Court Adult Panel (2022–2023), conducting court-appointed evaluations under California law, and he is a Forensic Evaluator for the Montana State Hospital System (2024–present). His forensic work also includes humanitarian evaluation: he has volunteered as a forensic evaluator with the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Network and with the Stanford Asylum Collective (2022–2023), documenting the medical and psychological sequelae of trauma for use in immigration proceedings. He is retained by plaintiff and defense counsel and accepts court-appointed engagements, and he is licensed in multiple states.
Selected Publications
- Lodhi S. "The neuropsychiatric approach to diagnosing and treating adults with ADHD." Abstract, European Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, 2025. Published in European Psychiatry (supplement). View on PubMed Central
- Cheney G, Lodhi S, Brooks N. "Involuntary Medication Despite Power of Attorney Treatment Refusal." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 2023;51(2):288–290. Read on JAAPL
- Lodhi S, Marett C. "Using seclusion to prevent COVID-19 transmission on inpatient psychiatry units." Current Psychiatry. 2020;19(11):37–42.
- Sharma R, Lodhi S, Sahota P, Thakkar MM. "Nicotine administration in the wake-promoting basal forebrain attenuates sleep-promoting effects of alcohol." Journal of Neurochemistry. 2015;135(2):323–331. View on PubMed
- Lodhi S. "Documentation of High-Risk Discharges." In: Thrasher T, ed. Primer on Emergency Psychiatry. Oxford University Press; 2023.
Selected Lectures
Dr. Lodhi lectures nationally and internationally on adult ADHD, functional neurological disorder, and the intersection of neuropsychiatry and law. Selected presentations include the European Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid (2025), on a model for diagnosing adult ADHD; the International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Barcelona (2024), on functional neurological disorder and forensic psychiatry; the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, in New York (2024) and San Francisco (2023); a co-authored poster at the American Neuropsychiatric Association Annual Meeting (2024) on medicolegal considerations in functional neurological disorder; continuing legal education for the Social Law Library, Massachusetts (2024), and for Capehart Scatchard (2024), on traumatic brain injury for legal professionals; and forensic psychiatry didactics at Stanford.
The LODHI-A
Dr. Lodhi is the creator of the LODHI-A (Longitudinally Oriented Diagnostic Historical Interview – ADHD), a semi-structured clinical interview that guides clinicians through a developmental, history-based assessment of adult ADHD. It is offered free to licensed clinicians at lodhi-a.com.
An Active Treating Clinician
Alongside his forensic work, Dr. Lodhi treats patients. In California he practices through Bay Area Neuropsychiatry, a telepsychiatry practice treating the full range of adult conditions, including ADHD, depression, anxiety, and OCD, as well as complex neuropsychiatric care, and it is insurance-accepting. In North Carolina he practices through Lodestar Psychiatry in Cary. Prospective patients should not use this forensic site to seek care; instead, see where Dr. Lodhi practices and how to reach each clinical office.
Discuss a Case or Read More
Retaining counsel can request a case screening, a complimentary call to determine whether a matter fits Dr. Lodhi's expertise before any retention. Common questions about fees, timelines, and testimony are answered on the frequently asked questions page.