Worcester's health commissioner to speak to Mount Wachusett Community College graduates

Stephen Landry, Gardner News
·2 min read

GARDNER ― Dr. Matilde “Mattie” Castiel will deliver the keynote speech to this year’s graduating class at Mount Wachusett Community College.

Castiel, the commissioner for Health and Human Services for the City of Worcester, will take to the stage at the school’s 58th commencement ceremony on Wednesday, May 17.

“We are thrilled to have Mattie join us for commencement,” said MWCC President James Vander Hooven. “Her leadership in both public health and nonprofit sectors, combined with her passion for working with the underserved and the greater community, make her ideally suited to address our 2023 graduates."

Castiel was born in Cuba and immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 and grew up in California. After moving to Massachusetts to complete her residency at UMass Memorial, she spent 30 years practicing internal medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center and Family Health Center of Worcester and taught internal medicine, family medicine and psychiatry as an associate professor at UMass Medical School.

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Castiel founded the Latin American Health Alliance (LAHA), a nonprofit organization in Worcester that works to address homelessness and addiction, and includes the Hector Reyes House treatment facility, two transitional houses, and Café Reyes, a job training program for residents of the Hector Reyes and transitional houses.

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In 2015, Castiel was appointed as Worcester’s commissioner for Health and Human Services. She was awarded the UMass Medical School Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service, the Edward M. Kenney Community Health Award, and the LIFT Community Hero Award in 2019.

In 2022, Gov. Charlie Baker named her to the commonwealth’s Health Policy Commission (HPC) Board, which oversees the HPC, an independent state agency that monitors healthcare spending growth and provides data-driven policy recommendations regarding healthcare deliver and payment system reform.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Mattie Castiel at Mount Wachusett Community College commencement