Michael S. Rogers, MD
Newport Beach, CA 92663
Michael S. Rogers, MD has had a private forensic psychiatry practice since 2018—across an extremely broad range of cases—with special areas of interest or trial/case expertise including trial competency and insanity evaluations, correctional psychiatry, suicide and standards of care, substance use disorders, behavioral addictions, medical malpractice/sexual abuse, disability claims and evaluations, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptom feigning evaluation, psychogenic/factitious illness and conversion disorder, and false memory/psychiatric injury/dissociation claims. He has worked as a Senior Forensic Specialist for Coalinga State Hospital—a facility for the civil commitment and mandatory treatment of patients mainly adjudicated as sexually violent predators (SVPs) and offenders with a mental disorder (OMD)—since early 2023.
Dr. Rogers studied early internet connectivity, social interactions, and multimedia delivery in the 1980s. He worked in technical roles at various Internet start-up companies during the 1990s, and at technical and managerial roles in the early 2000s. He obtained a Bachelor of Science (Honors) from the Open University of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, in 1999, with a focus on robotics and artificial intelligence engineering. He worked in information technology, global risk assessment, and regulatory compliance/audits at Morgan Stanley Bank in the mid-2000s.
Dr. Rogers studied Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and graduated in 2011. He has been licensed to practice medicine as a physician and surgeon in California since 2012. He completed his postdoctorate residency training program in psychiatric medicine at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and obtained board-certification in Psychiatry in 2015. Dr. Rogers completed the Psychiatry and the Law forensic psychiatry program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), graduating as a Fellow in 2018. He worked at a private hospital in Berkeley, California, for seven years as an in-patient psychiatrist, covering adolescent, adult, and geriatric psychiatric units. His treatment interests there included first-episode psychosis in adolescents and college students, eating disorders, and the assessment and treatment of medically complex seniors.
Between 2017 and 2018, Dr. Rogers worked for the Veterans Administration, both at an outpatient clinic assessing and treating veterans with dual diagnoses of psychiatric and substance use disorders under court-ordered diversion programs, as well as an outpatient clinical risk assessment project. He worked for seven years at a community mental health center, both as an inpatient psychiatrist and an emergency services/triage psychiatrist assessing and treating patients with psychiatric and substance use disorders, sometimes presenting with severe intoxication, withdrawal, and agitation.
Dr. Rogers worked at San Quentin State Prison in Marin, California for five years. He primarily worked in the in-patient hospital unit for death row inmates (those with capital sentences), assessing and treating patients with substantially deviant histories and complicated psychiatric disorders as well as treating death row outpatients. In addition, he worked at an intensive outpatient clinic for non-death row incarcerated patients. Dr. Rogers also worked as an inpatient psychiatrist assessing and treating referrals to San Quentin Hospital of some of California’s most treatment-resistant patients, stabilizing them before transferring them to a less intensive setting. At San Quentin State Prison, Dr. Rogers was a site educator for the UCSF medical student, residency, and fellowship programs.
Dr. Rogers enjoys lecturing and teaching students and residents and is currently involved in helping to establish a first-of-its-kind community forensic psychiatric fellowship program, affiliated with Coalinga State Hospital. Dr. Rogers also enjoys formulating and explaining complicated psychiatric syndromes, claims, and defenses in simple, clear, and easily understandable terms. Dr. Rogers is triple board-certified in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Society and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
- Addiction Medicine
- Correctional Healthcare
- Disability
- Emotional Trauma
- Forensic Psychiatry
- Malingering
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Sanity/Competency to Stand Trial
- Sexual Abuse
- Suicide
- Q: Please list your professional accreditations, degrees, licenses, and certificates granted:
- A:
• Fellowship, Forensic Psychiatry – University of California, San Francisco
• Adult Psychiatric Residency – California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
• Medical School – University of California, San Diego
• California Medical License
• ABPN Psychiatry Board-Certified
• ABPN Forensic Psychiatry Board-Certified
• ABPM Addiction Medicine Board-Certified
- Q: For what area(s) of expertise have you been retained as an expert?
- A:
Criminal competency: Homicide and non-homicide. Trial competency, Rights waiver competency, Miranda waiver competency
Diminished Capacity/Actuality
Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity: Homicide and non-homicide
Capital sentencing: Mitigating circumstances/psychiatric comorbidity
Violence risk assessment
Correctional Psychiatry: Standards of Care, Class Actions/Civil Rights, Wrongful death/suicide
Juvenile court waivers
False Memory/Dissociation
Defamation/Libel
Adult claims of childhood sexual abuse
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)/trauma assessment
Spousal abuse
Elder abuse/Undue influence
Sexual abuse/Sexual assault/Sexual discrimination/Sexual harassment
Medical malpractice: Outpatient, inpatient
Work accident/injury
Workplace Discrimination/Wrongful termination
Involuntary medication/Compulsory treatment evaluations/Informed consent/Capacity
Independent medical evaluations (IMEs), psychiatric injury assessment
Motor vehicle accidents/trauma
Traumatic brain injury/Concussion
Nursing home abuse/neglect
Addiction medicine inpatient/hospital standards of care, wrongful death
Substance abuse/Behavioral addictions (Internet, gambling, stalking, etc.)
Substance rehab facility neglect/wrongful death
Pet-derived injuries, dog bites, etc.
ADA accommodations
Disability evaluations
Insurance coverage denials/revocations
Toxic torts/Delusionary parasitosis/Psychogenic illness/Conversion disorder
Probate, testamentary capacity
Symptom feigning/Malingering
- Q: For how many years have you worked with the legal industry as an expert?
- A: 6 years
- Q: What services do you offer? (E.g.: consulting, testing, reports, site inspections etc.)
- A:
Consulting: Second opinion, Deposition preparation, Trial/Expert witness examination, case review and merit analysis
Disclosed expert witness
Evaluation as non-disclosed Expert Witness
Testing: Forensic psychiatric, symptom validity, performance validity, neuropsychiatric.
Records Review, Analysis
Reports
Education/Speaking
Testimony
Available Upon Request