See the whole context
What looks like defiance, inattention, withdrawal, or anxiety means something different at each age. Evaluation starts with the person, family, school, relationships, and life history.
Research-informed psychiatry · Ages 5 and older
Complex symptoms need a doctor who sees the whole story.
Family-centered psychiatric care for children, adolescents, and adults—especially when diagnoses overlap, previous care has not helped enough, or the next step is unclear.
Research-minded. Family-centered. Deeply human.
Prefer to talk? Call (516) 522-0410
Psychiatrist · Physician-researcher
Yale School of MedicineResearch fellowship
Ages 5 and olderChildren, teens & adults
New York & ConnecticutPrimarily online care
Free 30-minute consultationA clear first conversation
A diagnosis can name a pattern. It cannot tell the whole story of a person, a family, or what becomes possible with the right support.
When symptoms overlap, the right questions matter.
Dr. Syed connects symptoms to development, stress, relationships, learning, biology, and daily life. The goal is a plan with reasons behind it—not another label added to the list.
Find the pattern
ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, sleep, and stress can influence one another. Careful diagnosis asks what is primary, what is overlapping, and what may be getting missed.
Build the next step
Therapy, family work, medication, and practical changes are considered together, with clear goals and honest attention to what is—or is not—helping.
For cases that do not fit neatly into one box.
People rarely arrive with only one concern. These are reasons to begin a conversation—not a checklist that can diagnose anyone online.
Children and adolescents · Ages 5+
- Anxiety & school avoidanceWorry, panic, physical distress, withdrawal, or difficulty attending school
- ADHD & executive functionAttention, impulsivity, organization, and learning
- Autism & developmental differencesCommunication, regulation, identity, and family support
- Mood & behaviorDepression, possible bipolar disorder, irritability, anger, or rapid change
Adults whose treatment has stalled
Depression that has not improved enough, persistent anxiety, trauma, attention concerns, substance use, major transitions, or uncertainty about an earlier diagnosis.
Families carrying the system
Psychiatric illness affects caregivers, schools, and relationships. Dr. Syed's approach makes the family and larger environment part of the clinical picture when appropriate.
Request a free 30-minute consultation
Understand mental health
Understanding what you’re carrying changes how you move forward.
Explore source-checked guides to ADHD, anxiety, autism, depression, bipolar disorder, substance use, stress, and resilience. Then use a private guided check-in to organize what you want to discuss with a psychiatrist—without trying to diagnose yourself online.
Explore the learning center
Born in New Jersey. Raised on Long Island. Trained across medicine, psychiatry, and research.
For Dr. Syed, psychiatry is personal before it is academic.
Raised on Long Island in a Bangladeshi immigrant family shaped by instability and serious mental illness, he saw how much patients carry, how much caregivers absorb, and how isolating a fragmented system can feel.
That experience led him toward adult psychiatry, advanced child and adolescent training, and research into stress, resilience, inflammation, neuroplasticity, and emerging treatments. His scientific work asks the same practical question that guides his private practice: what could help this particular person move forward?
Meaningful care requires understanding what happens between appointments—in the home, at school, at work, and within the family—not only what appears on a symptom checklist.
2021–2023
Postdoctoral research fellowYale School of Medicine / VA Connecticut
Clinical trials and research in depression, psychedelics, and brain connectivity.
2018–2020
Child and adolescent psychiatry fellowStony Brook University School of Medicine
Advanced training in developmental, behavioral, and family-centered psychiatric care.
2016–2018
Adult psychiatry residentUniversity of Miami Health System
Adult psychiatric training alongside research and work with the Human Trafficking Clinic.
2012–2016
Doctor of MedicineSUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Graduated with distinction in research.
Serious science. Plain language. Honest limits.
From early-life stress to inflammation, psychedelic trials, and AMPA-receptor imaging, Dr. Syed's work follows one question: what changes when a person begins to get better?
View the complete Google Scholar profileImportant distinction
Research participation is not the same as a service offered in private practice. Psychedelic research appears here as part of Dr. Syed's academic work, not as an advertisement for treatment.
Seeing a possible mechanism of change in treatment-resistant depression
Using a specialized PET tracer, researchers measured AMPA receptors in the living human brain and identified regional changes after ketamine that tracked with antidepressant improvement.
Why this matters: Psychiatry often knows that a treatment can help before it fully understands why. This work moves closer to connecting symptom improvement with a measurable change in the brain.
Why inflammation may help explain why depression treatment works differently for different people
The team found broad immune-system differences in people with untreated major depression, with different inflammatory patterns in those who did and did not respond to treatment.
Why this matters: Symptoms that look similar can have different biology underneath. This work supports a more careful view of depression than a one-size-fits-all label.
How early experiences can shape the body's stress systems without determining a person's future
This review connects early-life stress with changes in brain, hormone, immune, and gene-regulation systems that can influence later vulnerability to anxiety and mood disorders.
Why this matters: History matters, but it is not destiny. A developmental assessment asks what happened, when it happened, what adapted, and what strengths can support change now.
What an exploratory psilocybin study can and cannot tell us about major depression
In a small Yale–VA study, depression and anxiety improved after both placebo and psilocybin phases. Improvements were larger after psilocybin, but the difference between conditions was not statistically conclusive.
Why this matters: Promising treatments still need careful controls. The useful lesson is not 'this works for everyone'; it is that expectancy, therapy, medication effects, and study design all matter.
Studying a short-acting psychedelic in depression starts with safety, monitoring, and restraint
This early-phase study examined two intravenous DMT doses in healthy volunteers and people with major depression, focusing first on safety and tolerability in a hospital setting.
Why this matters: New does not mean ready for routine care. Serious clinical research begins by defining dose, risk, monitoring, and who should not receive an intervention.
Looking for measurable brain changes behind symptom improvement
Researchers used EEG to test whether changes associated with neural plasticity appeared after psilocybin and whether those changes tracked with depression symptoms.
Why this matters: A treatment claim is stronger when researchers can investigate how change may happen, not only whether a rating scale moved.
When physician beliefs move faster than the evidence on medical cannabis
An international survey found major gaps in physician knowledge about medical cannabis and wide variation in willingness to recommend it across clinical situations.
Why this matters: Evidence-based care includes knowing where evidence is weak. A clinician's personal enthusiasm should not substitute for a clear discussion of benefits, risks, and uncertainty.
See the work in its original context.
Direct sources matter. These profiles and presentations let patients, families, and colleagues review the training and scholarship behind the practice.
Molecular PsychiatryAMPA-receptor dynamics and ketamine responseCoauthored brain-imaging research · 2026Yale School of MedicineDMT, safety, tolerability, and major depressionRecorded research presentation · 2022Psychology TodayVerified private-practice profileSpecialties, availability, and contactGoogle ScholarComplete publication and citation recordBiological psychiatry · resilience · early-life stress
A clear first step, before any commitment.
The introductory call is free. It is a chance to describe what has been difficult, understand how Dr. Syed works, and decide whether a comprehensive evaluation makes sense.
- 30 minutes
Begin with a focused conversation
Dr. Syed speaks with you about the concern, the person seeking care, and what you hope will change.
- No obligation
Decide whether the fit feels right
If you want to continue, the practice explains fees and helps you understand possible out-of-network benefits before the evaluation.
- Prepared care
Make the evaluation more useful
You receive intake forms in advance so Dr. Syed can review the history and use appointment time more effectively.
Request your free 30-minute consultation.
This first conversation is designed to answer one practical question: does Dr. Syed's approach seem like the right next step for you or your family?
Call the practice(516) 522-0410Ages 5+ · Telehealth in New York and Connecticut · Hicksville in person by arrangement
This form is not for emergencies.
If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, call 911. For the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988.