Lisa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine. She has a MS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT, and subsequently attended medical school at the University of Vermont. For many years she has been an attending psychiatrist at New Hampshire Hospital, with a 5 year stint at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital in Worcester MA. During this time she also developed a research career, obtaining an MS in Health Services Research at The Dartmouth Institute while serving as a VA Quality Scholar 2006-2008. She was the content expert for development of SAMHSA’s antipsychotic medication decision aid, as well as consultant in developing SAMHSA’s Medication Assisted Treatment decision aid. What has kept her engaged and passionate is the ability to help disempowered patients with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, rediscover the power they have in order to live the lives they envision for themselves. The common thread tying her career activities together has been working side-by-side with patients to maximize their autonomy in making life decisions. In her clinical work, she helped people gain the knowledge, skill, and capacity to manage their illnesses – to effectively take back power so they can be in the driver’s seat of their lives. By focusing on the clinical interview and the power of engagement and communication, she taught medical students and psychiatry residents to gain the therapeutic deftness to work with patients in a much more patient-centered way that supports autonomy. She is now a Research Postdoctoral Fellow on a T32 working with the Dr. Paul Barr’s lab at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health exploring key aspects of clinician-patient communication that facilitate engagement and behavior change. Her current research focus is on improving the mental wellness of care partners of persons living with dementia.
Lisa Mistler, MS, MD
