Medical Director
Operation PAR
Tampa, Florida
Michael Sheehan, MD
Medical Director, Operation PAR
Dr. Michael Sheehan is a Board-Certified General and Addiction Psychiatrist. He received his medical degree from University College Dublin in 1977 and completed his residency in Adult and Child Psychiatry in Dublin, Ireland. He has held academic positions at the University of Western Ontario and served as Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of South Florida.
Since 1993, Dr. Sheehan has served as Medical Director of Operation PAR, one of Florida’s leading addiction treatment centers, which includes 45 programs, 8 clinics, and over 4,000 patients on medication-assisted treatment (MAT). He supervises the agency’s withdrawal management, residential, and dual diagnosis programs. In addition, he maintains a private psychiatric practice in North Tampa.
Dr. Sheehan is nationally recognized for his contributions to addiction psychiatry. He has served as the longstanding Scientific Advisor to the Tampa Bay Depressive and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and has mentored physicians in buprenorphine prescribing since 2005. He has been qualified as an expert witness in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine in Florida courts and served as a treatment provider for the NFL’s impaired players program. He has been listed in Best Doctors in America annually since 2003.
He has presented extensively at national and international conferences on addiction, mood and anxiety disorders, co-occurring conditions, and psychopharmacology. As an investigator in more than 20 clinical trials, his research has covered treatments for depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, ADHD, and substance use disorders. His work includes VA and NIDA-CTN-sponsored buprenorphine studies, trials of naltrexone for alcohol dependence, vigabatrin for cocaine use, probuphine implants for opioid use disorder, and CBT with methylphenidate in adolescents with co-occurring ADHD and substance use disorders.
Widely published, Dr. Sheehan is known for his compassionate, pragmatic approach to care and his long-standing commitment to evidence-based psychiatry. He integrates clinical, research, and educational roles to improve outcomes in mental health and addiction.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Sheehan is a widely exhibited photographer. He lives in Tampa with his wife Mary, also a psychiatrist. They have four children and three grandchildren.
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
8:45am - 9:15am EST