Meet the 2026 Leadership College Graduate: Olaniyi Olayinka, MD
By Alisa Pierce

Even with a career helping patients navigate complex psychiatric conditions, the most pressing concern today for Houston psychiatrist Olaniyi Olayinka, MD, isn’t diagnosing patients or crafting treatment plans – it’s the growing popularity of synthetic kratom products.

Dr. Olayinka worries these drugs expose patients to a powerful, largely unregulated substance with potentially devastating mental health consequences.

“What struck me the most is how my patients will talk about how natural these products are, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” said the UTHealth Houston Harris County Psychiatric Center assistant professor. “I am seeing a growing number of patients presenting with psychiatric and opioid-like complications – some even more difficult to treat than those related to routine opioid withdrawal syndrome – linked to synthetic kratom.”

As part of his capstone project for the Texas Medical Association’s Leadership College, Dr. Olayinka shared those patient experiences in an op-ed for the Houston Press. The piece, “Synthetic Kratom Is Already Here. Our Response Must Evolve,” drew on his clinical experience and public health perspective and offered recommendations for how Texas should approach kratom policy.

Now, with the skills he developed through the Leadership College, Dr. Olayinka is shifting his focus to in-person advocacy and outreach. His goals: raise awareness about the risks of synthetic kratom, alert the public to the differences between synthetic and natural kratom products, and call for comprehensive regulation of the substance.

He’ll also help guide TMA’s efforts to increase patients’ access to care as a new member of TMA’s Committee on Medicaid, CHIP, and the Uninsured – an appointment he’s “greatly thankful for.”

“How can I influence health care policy? How can I influence other physicians to make meaningful changes, not only in clinical environments, but across communities? TMA’s Leadership College showed me how,” Dr. Olayinka said.

For more information on the Leadership College including the application and selection process, visit its webpage.