Profiles

Dr. Enrico Castillo is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. He is an academic community psychiatrist, health services researcher, and medical educator in the UCLA Center for Social Medicine and the Associate Vice Chair for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He is also an affiliated faculty member in the UCLA Center for Community Engagement and the California Policy Lab at UCLA. All of his research, education, and leadership work focuses on advancing health equity, careers in public service, and community-public-academic partnerships.

Dr. Castillo is second-generation Filipino American, born and raised in rural Virginia. He obtained his BA in English from the University of Virginia and his MD with a Concentration in Underserved Populations from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his psychiatry residency and public psychiatry clinical fellowship at Columbia University, specializing in field-based services for homeless populations. Dr. Castillo completed a 2-year fellowship in health services/health policy research, the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program (formerly the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program), and obtained his MS in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Research: Dr. Castillo’s program of research focuses on serious mental illness, homelessness, and incarceration, with the aim to improve the capacity of public systems to address health and social inequities. In the roles of PI or Co-PI, he has secured over $1.9 million in research funding. He led a NIMH-funded project on the jail-to-homelessness pipeline experienced by individuals with serious mental illness. His research has been conducted in close partnership with local, state, and national agencies and community organizations including the US Office of the Surgeon General, the NY State Office of Mental Health, Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Health Services, the RAND Corporation, and Healthy African American Families II. He is a member of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Systems Research Scientific Merit Review Board for Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Determinants of Health and Care and has previously served on NIH scientific review committees. He is an associate editor for Academic Psychiatry, a column editor for Psychiatric Services, and member of the editorial board of Community Mental Health Journal.

Education: Dr. Castillo has developed nationally recognized graduate medical education curricula in psychiatry on the topics of public service, structural competency, physician advocacy, and health equity. He has also developed over 20 educational partnerships with local health agencies and community-based organizations, including Project 180, the Hammer Museum, and Dignity and Power Now (Frontline Wellness Network). He is an alumnus of the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions. He is the recipient of two departmental teaching awards and the American Psychiatric Association’s Irma J. Bland Award for Excellence in Teaching Residents.

Leadership: Dr. Castillo holds several national leadership roles in research and medical education, including the Mental Health Advisory Board of the Association of American Medical Colleges, faculty member and mentor in the Career Development Institute for Psychiatry, and multiple positions within the American Psychiatric Association and American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. He was one of three physician members of the second cohort of the New Voices Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2021-23). He is a member of the California State Council on Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health.