Matilde "Mattie" Castiel is the current commissioner of health and human services for the City of Worcester. She was appointed in recognition of her work at the forefront of community-based battles against drug addiction and homelessness. Castiel immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 with her brother as part of Operation Peter Pan. She settled in California, where she received her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University, subsequently moving to Massachusetts to complete her residency at UMass Memorial. She has worked as a Board Certified physician in Internal Medicine in the Worcester community for over 28 years, including 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.
Castiel has always been motivated to work with the underserved. In 2009 she co-founded the Latin American Health Alliance (LAHA), a nonprofit organization in Worcester dedicated to combating homelessness and drug addiction. Hector Reyes House and Casa Reyes, LAHA programs, are, respectively, a substance abuse treatment facility and a transitional residential house for Latino males. In 2015, Dr. Castiel opened Café Reyes on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester. This is an innovative jobs training program for the residents at Hector Reyes House and Casa Reyes.
In the past year, Castiel has been a pillar of hope and inspiration for the Worcester community during the Covid-19 pandemic. Castiel was part of Pfizer's vaccine trials, and she has been influential in encouraging communities of color to get the vaccine. Latinos are three times more at risk than the white community. Throughout her illustrious career, Castiel has been honored with numerous awards for her abundant contributions to the citizens of Worcester. (Narrative profile by Cate Stewart, Holy Cross '24)