Healthcare workers deserve mental health care from people who understand their work. That understanding is central to Dr. Jennie Byrne’s work, and it’s why we’re excited to announce her appointment as Medical Director at Marvin Behavioral Health.
Dr. Byrne is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, author, and healthcare leader who has spent two decades in clinical practice, with a focus on clinicians’ mental health. Over the past year, she has worked alongside our clinical and leadership teams to design and launch Marvin’s psychiatric care program. As Medical Director, she will guide our broader clinical program, overseeing clinical standards, quality, and the continued development of care built around the realities of healthcare work.
A deeper understanding of clinician distress
Dr. Byrne brings experience across clinical practice, neuroscience, healthcare leadership, and entrepreneurship. She has founded and exited a clinical organization, served in national C-suite roles, and written three seminal books: Work Smart, Moral Injury: Healing the Healers, and ADHD in Professionals: Embrace Your Brain.
Her work examines a distinction that matters deeply for healthcare workers: burnout and moral injury are not interchangeable. Supporting someone’s well-being requires understanding the conditions contributing to their distress.
As Dr. Byrne puts it:
“Burnout asks, ‘How do we restore the worker’s energy?’ Moral injury asks, ‘What is happening in the system that is wounding the worker?’ We need both individual care and organizational change.”
That perspective informs her clinical leadership at Marvin. Individual support matters, and so does recognizing the organizational conditions that shape people’s experience at work. Access to care is an essential part of the response, alongside efforts to address those conditions.
Building on a year of clinical leadership
For our team, this appointment builds on a partnership already well underway.
Dr. Byrne hashelped develop Marvin’s psychiatric care program from the ground up, bringing clinical rigor and an understanding of healthcare workers’ needs to its design and launch. Her expanded role carries that work forward across our clinical services.
“Over the past year, she brought the same rigor and care to that work that she writes about in her own books, and helped us build something that met the highest standards from day one,” says John Bracaglia, Marvin’s CEO and Co-Founder.
Care that fits the realities of healthcare work
Mental health support needs to be accessible when healthcare workers can actually use it. At Marvin, half of all sessions take place outside standard business hours, and members report 93% satisfaction with counselor fit.
These measures reflect two priorities that will continue under Dr. Byrne’s leadership: making room for care within demanding schedules and helping people connect with counselors who understand the culture of healthcare.
As Marvin grows, Dr. Byrne will help guide our commitment to prevention-oriented, evidence-based mental health care that reaches healthcare workers before a crisis. We’re grateful for everything she has already helped build and excited to welcome her into this expanded role.
Learn more about Marvin’s mental health support for healthcare workers.
