Lydia A. Chwastiak, M.D., MPH

Lydia A. Chwastiak, M.D., MPH, is dually trained as a psychiatrist and internal medicine physician. She is a Professor in the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Over the past 18 years, her clinical and research interests have focused on improving the treatment and outcomes for complex patients who have both chronic medical illness and serious mental illness. She has conducted health services research that investigating the prevalence, impact and costs of cardiovascular disease among veterans with serious mental illness. More recently, she has adapted and implemented evidence-based integrated care models to treat co-morbid diabetes and mental illness for low resource settings in the US and in Southeast Asia. Dr. Chwastiak’s current projects include developing and testing a community mental health center-based team approach to treating poorly controlled type 2 diabetes among outpatients with psychosis.

Dr. Chwastiak received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and her MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed residencies in both internal medicine (University of Colorado) and psychiatry (University of California, San Francisco). She obtained research training through an NRSA-funded fellowship in psychiatry and primary care at the University of Washington, during which time she completed her MPH degree.

Faculty Appointments

• Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Population Health.
  • Core faculty Integrated Care Training Program (ICTP) http://ictp.uw.edu
  • Affiliate faculty (Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center https://aims.uw.edu
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Global Health, UW School of Public Health
  • Core faculty, Division of Global Mental Health https://depts.washington.edu/uwgmh/about/faculty-and-staff/

Link to Bibliography →