Dr. Jeffrey A. Sugar, MD, APA

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Get to know Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey A. Sugar, who serves patients in Los Angeles, California.

Recognized as an attentive and considerate psychiatrist, Dr. Sugar is the Director of the Child Psychiatry Trauma Program and Co-Chief of the Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. 

Alongside his clinical role, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry within the Department of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Previously, he was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA/Neuropsychiatric Institute.

A psychological trauma expert, Dr. Sugar has been retained as an expert witness in a broad range of child and general psychiatric cases, both for the plaintiff and for the defense. He has also lectured widely on topics in child and general psychiatry at national and international meetings.

After graduating from New College in Sarasota, Florida with a degree in Chemistry and Creative Writing, Dr. Sugar went on to pursue his medical training. He earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his residency in general psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California, followed by his fellowship in child psychiatry at UCLA/NPI, where he also served as Chief Fellow.

Although most of his career has been focused on serving underprivileged children, first in the non-profit sector as Chief of Psychiatry and later as Director of Research for Hathaway Children and Family Services in Sylmar, California, then in several clinical and teaching roles at USC, Dr. Sugar also has experience in the private sector.

A Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the doctor is a member of the Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (past President), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Forensic Expert Witness Association.

To boot, he is board-certified in both general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting high quality patient care for the public through the initial and continuing certification of psychiatrists and neurologists.

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Psychiatrists evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. They conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, prescribe medication, and evaluate treatment results.

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