Dr. Katzman received his BA at Stanford University and went on to medical school at UC San Diego before completing psychiatry residency training at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico and Adjunct Professor at Yale. He was the Vice Chair for Education, Clinical and Academic Affairs at the University of New Mexico, and prior to that served as the Director of the Behavioral Health Care Line for the New Mexico VA Health Care System for 12 years. He currently serves as the Director of Education at Silver Hill Hospital, and Medical Director of the Project ECHO Resilience program. He has received multiple awards recognizing his devotion and expertise in teaching and mentorship. He has been a lifelong student and teacher, particularly in the area of psychotherapy. He has been trained extensively in the areas of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Mentalization Based Therapy, Good Psychiatric Management, and Transference Focused Psychotherapy by experts in the field, and his work in the areas of attachment, psychodynamic psychotherapy and resiliency have been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals. For decades, he has trained medical students and psychiatry residents in these areas through presentations and clinical supervision.

Dr. Katzman also has a thirty-year background in improvisational theater. He is interested in the application of improvisation and how this can enhance our experience in our relationships, in the workplace, and in our communication with others. He has worked with psychiatry residents and medical students using improvisation to develop the capacity for collaboration and spontaneity so important to the therapeutic alliance. He regularly consults to providers in various hospital settings and with medical leadership teams to foster a sense of teamwork and joy in working together.

In addition to his scholarly, peer-reviewed research, Jeff has also published three books. His study and love for improvisation is captured in his books Life Unscripted and Ensemble!, co-authored with his improvisation mentor Dan O'Connor. His 2012 novel, The Storymaker, was a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition featuring 10,000 entries.