Dr. Barnes is board certified in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he is the fellowship director for DBP and the clinical director for Minnesota’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program. He has served as the webmaster and listserve manager for the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute (NPHTI.org), and has also served in leadership roles in the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

His clinical work with children and families focuses on helping children gain mastery of their own mind-body interactions. Some of the ways that he helps children become more competent in this regard includes teaching them how to use biofeedback, mindfulness, and self-hypnosis to help themselves better regulate their own thoughts, feelings, and actions. His research focuses on promoting resilience in children under stress, and on the interplay between behavior and biology, with recent work focusing on the well-being of children growing up in homeless families. His clinical and scientific contributions in these areas have been published in top peer-reviewed journals including Pediatrics and The Journal of Pediatrics.

He has been acknowledged annually since 2015 as a regional “top doctor” by both Minnesota Monthly and Mpls-St. Paul magazines. He is the recipient of the 2015 Daniel P. Kohen Outstanding Clinician Award from the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis (MSCH), and 2017 Presidential Award for Service from MSCH.