The medical drama The Good Doctor, based on a Korean drama of the same name, exploded onto American television in 2017 to much fanfare. Both seasons have had consistently high ratings and positive reviews from critics. The story of Shaun Murphy, a young autistic savant surgical resident, drew people in. The show and actor Freddie Highmore have been widely praised for the positive and realistic portrayal of living with autism, especially as a savant.
And of course, St. Bonaventure Hospital is full of big personalities, interesting medical challenges, and plenty of drama to get invested in. Here are the MBTIs of all those exciting characters.
Dr. Shaun Murphy — INTJ, The Architect
The star of the show, Shaun Murphy, is a brilliant surgeon in part because he has those strong Intuitive traits. Several times in the show we see his eidetic memory combine with his Intuition to know that something’s not right—and subsequently save someone’s life. He also tends to be very aware when someone’s upset, but struggles to know why, which puts him at Thinking over Feeling.
Taking away Dr Aaron Glassman’s license when he starts to lose his memory is a good example of this. Sometimes Shaun hurts people’s feelings because his Judging traits means he’s rule-oriented, but his compassion helps him make up for it.
Dr. Neil Meléndez — ESTJ, The Executive
Meléndez has very classic Observing and Thinking traits: He is careful and thoughtful, and he likes to make evidence-based decisions. When he first meets Shaun, for instance, he is hesitant to include him in surgery until he’s spent time getting to know him and learning his strengths.
He likes to stick to a plan, as he does while keeping his relationship with Audrey Lim quiet, which is very Judging-based. But he can be more Prospecting when the time is right, so he probably falls around 50/50 on the J/P scale. He is also outgoing and charming, which makes patients like him.
Dr. Claire Browne — ENFP, The Campaigner
Claire’s MBTI shows in four quick letters why she’s a great doctor. Her Extraverted traits make her great with her fellow residents and helps patients trust her. Her Intuitive traits help her dig into an illness to diagnose it. Her Feeling traits help her connect with patients, and her Prospecting traits means she is always looking for helpful solutions.
Claire always looks for the best in people and tries to support and nurture those she cares about, as she does with Shaun. She is great at thinking on her feet and is extremely empathetic, which we witness when she replicates Shaun’s thought process to save someone’s life in season two.
Jared Kalu — ISFP, The Adventurer
Dr. Kalu is a dedicated doctor, going so far as to earn his medical degree without his family’s approval. He is obviously fiercely independent, which is a classic ISFP trait. His Feeling traits can sometimes get him into trouble, as they do when he punches someone and is fired. But that same sensitivity makes him a caring and compassionate medical professional.
The Feeling and Prospecting traits make him curious and imaginative, so surgery is a great path for him. Adventurers need tactile things that they can do rather than think about, so anywhere in the medical field will make someone like Jared happy.
Dr. Marcus Andrews — ENTJ, The Commander
ENTJs are natural-born leaders and are very aware of their own competence in leadership, so it’s no surprise that Andrews is Chief and Surgery and also gets promoted to President of St. Bonaventure Hospital. His Judging traits guide his Extraverted and Thinking traits, which allows him to see problems in a system.
He often comes off as domineering and egotistical and doesn’t take criticism well, which leads to his anger when it is suggested that he might be infertile. But Andrews can be compassionate and even soothing when he needs to be, which is how he keeps his relationships healthy.
Dr. Aaron Glassman — ISFJ, The Defender
Though Introverted and quiet, Dr. Glassman is no pushover. He is wise and has great depth of feeling, which is why he takes in Shaun when he shows up on his doorstep as a teenager. His Observing and Judging skills make him a great doctor because he can easily find the roots of problems.
Those Introverted and Feeling traits also help him see cues and symptoms that can help him both diagnose medical issues and key into emotional stress. On the other hand, however, those same traits sometimes make him struggle to admit when he’s having problems himself.
Dr. Audrey Lim — ISTJ, The Logistician
As an ISTJ, Dr. Lim is often direct, careful, and pragmatic. Her Observing and Thinking traits make her a skilled doctor. That pragmatic streak can lead to suggestions others wouldn’t dare make, like stopping treatment on a baby because she thinks the treatment will just make it die slower.
She struggles to connect and empathize sometimes, as we see in the way her relationship with Meléndez. She is so dedicated to her path that it takes her friend saying something to realize she needs to change course and be open about her feelings for Meléndez. She’s ambitious and usually good with the residents.
Lea Dilallo — ENFP, The Campaigner
Shaun’s neighbor then roommate is all the best parts of the ENFP type. She is kind, compassionate, friendly, deeply empathetic, and has a strong sense of right and wrong. We see all of this in her friendship with Shaun, but also in her relationship with Dr. Glassman.
She is the one that convinces him he has to tell Shaun the truth about his illness. Her Prospecting traits are what convinced her to move to Hershey, PA and back. Some see her friendship with Shaun as selfish given how he feels about her, but her Intuitive and Feeling traits might give her insight to the right things for friendship that outsiders will never have.
Dr. Morgan Reznick — ESTP, The Entrepreneur
Dr. Reznick is a extremely competitive and knows she’s great at her job. She is classically Extraverted and Observant. Her Thinking traits help her see patterns and paths to solutions, and her Prospecting traits help her think on her feet, as she does when she insists on using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to treat Dr. Lim when she becomes dangerously ill during season 2.
Despite her Extraverted traits, however, she doesn’t make friends very easily. Her Thinking overrides her sense of empathy or any intuition, which is why she feels she needs to blackmail Claire into spending time with her after her boyfriend dies.
Dr. Alex Park — ESTP, The Entrepreneur
Dr. Park is smart, energetic, and perceptive. Entrepreneur types always want to have an impact on their immediate surroundings, whether that’s as the life of the party or by helping people achieve their goals. His Extraversion makes him great with people, and his Observing and Thinking sides make him an excellent diagnostician.
Prospecting helps him change direction when necessary, but all of that combined can make him risk-prone sometimes, as when he breaks quarantine to help his son. His past as a police officer makes him sometimes cynical, which feeds his already Thinking over Feeling tendencies. But his career path makes perfect sense for someone with his MBTI traits.