Castiel to retire as Worcester health commissioner, to resume community work helping at-risk residents
Photo I Courtesy of the City of Worcester
Dr. Matilde Castiel will retire from her role as commissioner of Worcester's Health & Human Services department on Sept. 30.
After 10 years serving as City of Worcester’s Health & Human Services Commissioner, Dr. Matilde Castiel is calling it a career, sort of.
While the City announced Castiel would be retiring from the municipality on Sept. 30, she has no plans to stop working to support some of the area’s most at-risk populations.
“I don’t think I'll ever give up doing the work I do in the community,” Castiel said.
Throughout her 36-year career as a physician and decade as commissioner, Castiel has championed services and support for those unhoused and individuals living with substance use disorders. In 2021, she was inducted into the Worcester Business Journal Hall of Fame.
While Castiel is excited to live a slower-paced life, starting her workouts at 7 a.m. instead of 5 a.m., spending more time with her grandchildren, and traveling to Paris, she has big plans for advancing equity within the city.
She’s working with community members to establish a substance use treatment facility for Black men, stating the state does not have a treatment program specifically for that demographic.
She is working with the United Way of Central Massachusetts to raise between $800,000 to $900,000 to build four tiny homes at 6 Claremont St. for those unhoused.
“I want to show that as a model of care for housing homeless … with dignity and to be able to have their space. And it's a third of the cost of any project that we do for housing now,” she said.
Castiel is looking forward to supporting the opening of a senior shelter as homelessness rates among seniors in Worcester are growing, she said.
“We don't know how to cater to that community. We haven't done that. It's the Baby Boomers now who can't afford their rent,” Castiel said.
At the beginning of her tenure, Castiel led the City’s efforts to bring the state’s syringe exchange program to Worcester, an often controversial, harm-reduction initiative providing sterile needles and syringes to those using drugs intravenously.
She incorporated the program into the city in 2016, mere months after she assumed her role as commissioner in 2015, and it is still offered today through AIDS Project Worcester.
Under her direction, the Health & Human Services department grew to incorporate the Division of Public Health, Elder Affairs, Youth Opportunities, Veterans Services, and Human Rights, according to a Monday press release from the City.
Castiel played an integral role in bringing comprehensive sex education curriculum to Worcester Public Schools.
She helped usher in task forces including those for mental health, opioid-use, and prison reentry.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Castiel pounded the pavement administering vaccines to residents herself.
“We got a lot done. We went out into the streets. We vaccinated people in cars, as they were walking down the streets and stores,” she said. “People knew me in the community, because I may have been their doc.”
Since 2022, Castiel has served on the Massachusetts’ Health Policy Commission, a state agency working to enhance affordable access to healthcare. In July, the state announced she was stepping down from her position as she transitioned into retirement.
One of the most recent highlights of Castiel’s career was leading the City’s partnership with UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester to establish their joint Worcester Integrated Health Data Exchange to collect and share data regarding health inequities throughout the city.
“We know from state data for opioids that the highest numbers are for communities of color,” Castiel said in an August 2024 press release from the university. “Having our local Worcester data could help bring collaboration and resources to affected neighborhoods.”
Looking forward, the data exchange will look to focus on maternal morbidity and mortality, especially within the Black community.
“I want to congratulate Dr. Castiel on an incredibly impactful tenure as a public servant to the City of Worcester,” Worcester City Manager Eric Batista said in the City’s release. “Her dedication to this community has truly been inspiring. She has proven herself as a compassionate problem solver and will leave a lasting legacy.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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