Jinal Patel, MD

Dr. Jinal Patel is a forensic psychiatry fellow at NYU Langone Health, where she is building a career at the intersection of mental health, law, and social advocacy. After earning her medical degree from Imperial College London, she completed her psychiatry residency at Maimonides Medical Center, where she served as Chief Resident. Her clinical training exposed her to high-acuity urban populations and patients involved in the legal system, experiences that shaped her decision to pursue subspecialty training in forensic psychiatry.

Dr. Patel’s work focuses on forensic evaluations and the psychiatric care of individuals within correctional and secure hospital settings, including patients connected to Rikers Island and Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center. She conducts competency and insanity evaluations while navigating the complex relationship between mental illness and the justice system. Her clinical interests also extend to environmental and substance-related influences on mental health, as well as advocacy for underserved and vulnerable populations. In addition to her fellowship, she has been recognized through prestigious programs such as the Public Psychiatry Fellowship with the American Psychiatric Association and the Nyapati Rao and Francis Lu International Medical Graduate Fellowship through the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.

Deeply influenced by her upbringing in a low-resource community, Dr. Patel is committed to addressing disparities in mental health care, particularly for individuals involved in the criminal justice system and victims of human trafficking. She actively contributes to research, education, and mentorship, and collaborates with multidisciplinary teams to improve care delivery and advocacy efforts. As she continues her career in New York, Dr. Patel aims to advance more humane, effective models of forensic psychiatric care while amplifying the voices of populations that are too often overlooked.

• Imperial College London - M.D.

• American Psychiatric Association
• American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
• Brooklyn Psychiatric Society

• Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy and Support for Victims