Edward Kaftarian, M.D. is a bilingual (English/Spanish) triple board-certified psychiatrist in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. He completed residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a forensic psychiatry fellowship at UC Davis. He is a nationally recognized expert in telepsychiatry, correctional psychiatry, and suicide prevention, and the host of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, a podcast focused on virtual mental health care, including clinical practice, system design, and innovation in psychiatric delivery.

Dr. Kaftarian previously held executive leadership roles in the California prison system, including Chief Psychiatrist, Medical Director, and Statewide Chief of Telepsychiatry. In these roles, he developed major statewide initiatives such as California’s Death Row Mental Health Program, the San Quentin Correctional Treatment Center, and the Statewide Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program. He also built the largest correctional telepsychiatry system in the world, expanding access to care for incarcerated populations.

He has participated in systemwide audits with federal monitors, led statewide policy and quality improvement efforts, and serves as an expert witness in jail suicide litigation.

Dr. Kaftarian is Founder and Executive Chairman of Orbit Health, a telepsychiatry company serving correctional, emergency, and outpatient systems. He has held faculty appointments at UCSF and UCSD, serves on the Psych Congress Steering Committee and APA Telepsychiatry Committee, and lectures nationally on correctional psychiatry, suicide prevention, and addiction medicine.