Matthew Hirschtritt, MD, MPH, is a physician-researcher with The Permanente Medical Group Delivery Science & Applied Research Physician Researcher Program. He is also a Senior Physician in the Kaiser Permanente East Bay Department of Psychiatry, an Adjunct Investigator in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Systems Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. He is also a Volunteer Assistant Clinical Professor in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Psychiatry and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. The overarching goals of his research include improving equitable access to, quality of, and cost-effectiveness of mental illness detection and treatment.
Dr. Hirschtritt’s investigative work has involved diverse mental health-related topics, including characteristics and treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, adolescent depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and substance use disorders. His work has also examined the interrelationship between adolescent resiliency, peer victimization, and suicidal ideation. More recently, his work has focused on early identification and treatment of psychotic-spectrum disorders, including coordinated specialty care for early psychosis.
In addition to his research experience, Dr. Hirschtritt has worked in various clinical psychiatric settings, including inpatient units in a safety-net, academically affiliated, and private hospitals, psychiatric emergency services, and outpatient services (including interdisciplinary clinics focused on the needs of sexual minority adults and young adults with new- or recent-onset psychosis). He is an enthusiastic mentor to learners who are interested in developing research and academic writing skills.
Following completion of his undergraduate degree in psychology from Cornell University, Dr. Hirschtritt joined the National Institute of Mental Health as an Intramural Research Training Award recipient. He then completed his pre-medical, postbaccalaureate coursework at Johns Hopkins University, and, before beginning medical school, served as a research associate in the Yale Child Study Center. As a student in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, a five-year program dedicated to training clinician-scientists, Dr. Hirschtritt completed additional coursework in public health, leading to an MPH degree. He completed residency training in adult psychiatry and fellowship training in forensic psychiatry at UCSF.
