Muhammad Zeshan, MD

Dr. Muhammad Zeshan, often known as “Dr. Z,” is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and infant mental health specialist dedicated to supporting children, families, and caregivers through compassionate, evidence-based care. He is the founder of Inside Out, a private psychiatric practice in Princeton, New Jersey, where he provides treatment for infants, children, adolescents, and adults. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Zeshan serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he helps train and mentor future mental health professionals.

Dr. Zeshan’s path into psychiatry began in his childhood in Pakistan, where he grew up as the oldest of eight siblings and worked in his father’s restaurant even before starting first grade. During those early years, he observed how children who had access to education—and parents who understood how to guide them—responded very differently to challenges such as bullying, academic struggles, and peer pressure compared to children whose families lacked those resources. Many children in his community dropped out of school in fifth or eighth grade, which sparked his desire to understand the deeper causes behind these differences. Later in his training at Harvard, he worked with a child whose parents were highly accomplished academics, yet he found himself teaching them the importance of simply spending meaningful time with their child. That experience reinforced a powerful lesson: effective parenting is not defined by wealth or education, but by a learned set of skills.

Motivated by this insight, Dr. Zeshan pursued additional education beyond his psychiatry fellowship, earning a master’s degree in parent coaching and focusing his work on strengthening early family relationships. Today, he is the only infant psychiatrist in the state of New Jersey trained at UMass Boston, specializing in helping caregivers understand infant cues and build strong mother–newborn bonds during the first three years of life. He also writes children’s storybooks and maintains an educational platform designed to raise awareness about the parenting skills that support healthy emotional and cognitive development, helping families build the foundation for lifelong well-being.

• Medical School in Pakistan
• psychiatry residency training from Mount Sinai Bronx-Care Hospital
• child psychiatry fellowship at Harvard Medical School-Boston Children’s Hospital
• two-year Infant-Parent-Mental Health (IPMH) Fellowship at UMass Boston
• Newborn Behavioral Observation Training at Brazelton Institute

• Youngest Board of Directors for Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA)

• American Psychiatric Association (APA)
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
• New Jersey Psychiatric Association (NJPA)
• Board of Director of Supporting Child Caregiver USA
• Board of Directors for Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA)

• Research and non-profit work in Pakistan

Dr. Zashan has authored six children's story books, which are available on his website ReadingWithDrZ.com. He is an active story writer who uses his books as part of his mission to educate parents and caregivers about child development and parenting skills. His website features a books section where all his publications can be found, and he maintains an active presence on social media to share his work and create awareness about early childhood development.