Dr. Mattie Castiel

Mattie Castiel, M.D. has always held a professional and personal mission to work with the underserved. She was born in Camaguey, Cuba and immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 as part of Operation Peter Pan. Raised and educated in California, she completed her medical training at the University of California-San Francisco after earning a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University - Northridge. 

Dr. Castiel moved to Massachusetts to complete her residency at UMass Memorial and she has worked as a Board certified physician in Internal Medicine in the Worcester community for over 30 years, including working at UMass Memorial Medical Center and Family Health Center of Worcester and also as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Psychiatry at UMass Medical School. 
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In 2009, Dr. Castiel founded the Latin American Health Alliance (LAHA), a nonprofit organization in Worcester dedicated to combating homelessness and drug addiction and at present she continues to serve as its Medical Director.  LAHA’s programs consist of the Hector Reyes House a substance abuse treatment facility for LatinX males and 2 transitional houses which one is named after her.  In 2015 LAHA opened Café Reyes on Shrewsbury Street, an innovative jobs training program for the residents at Hector Reyes House and transitional houses. 

Dr. Castiel has served on the boards of several Worcester nonprofits, including The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Centro Las Americas, Abby’s House, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Quinsigamond Community College, United Way, and the Boys and Girls Club.

In September of 2015, Dr. Castiel was appointed as the City of Worcester’s Commissioner for Health and Human Services, where she oversees the divisions of Public Health, Youth Services, Human Rights and Disabilities, Veterans Affairs, and Elder Affairs, and Homelessness along with advancing important new initiatives that fall under the scope of youth violence and the current opioid crisis.

Most recently she has been awarded the UMass Medical School Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service, 2019, Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Award, 2019, LIFT Community Hero award 2019