We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our new medical director, Dr. Shahzad Hashmi, MD, DFAPA. Dr. Hashmi is a board-certified psychiatrist, who has been treating clients of all ages for over seventeen years and who has also served extensively as an administrator in the behavioral health field. 

Dr. Hashmi is also an esteemed educator who has trained hundreds of medical students, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and counseling students through his work with the Emory University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Philadelphia School of Osteopathic Medicine, The University of Georgia Medical School Partnership, and Mercer School of Medicine.

He also brings a deeply personal connection to MARR’s mission of helping clients find total, lasting recovery. When introducing himself to the MARR staff, Dr. Hashmi shared about a close friend, colleague, and fellow physician with whom he attended medical school. This young man also happened to be the top resident in Dr. Hashmi’s residency at Detroit Medical. 

Dr. Hashmi recalls an evening when his class of fellow medical school students were gathering for a reunion. They went to meet with this young physician at his apartment and discovered the lights on and doors locked. They eventually had to call the police, who broke in to find the young doctor had overdosed on pills and eventually died. 

“I was heartbroken,” Dr. Hashmi recalls. “That changed me and changed the mission of what I wanted to do as a doctor.” 

What drew him to want to work with MARR in particular is our commitment to the community model of addiction treatment.  “It is rare to find treatment centers providing the community model of treatment that MARR provides,” states Dr. Hashmi.  “The community model has a way of addressing every single aspect of the patient’s lives so that they are prepared to cooperate with others and return to their communities after treatment is over.” 

Dr. Hashmi completed his medical degree at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, where he specialized in internal medicine and surgery. He moved to the United States and completed his residency at Howard University Medical School. While there, he served as the Chief Resident and received his medical degree in Psychiatry. Dr. Hashmi received two years of additional training at Emory School of Medicine, where he received a prestigious fellowship in geriatric medicine in 2004.  

He is a distinguished member of the American Psychiatric Association, the Georgia Medical Directors Association, and the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association. Dr. Hashmi contributed to clinical trials and publications during his training and continues to participate in clinical trials. Most recently, he received recognition from the Oasis Study in 2020.