Clinicn Investigator, Asst Prf Psychiatry, Mass General Research Institute

Psychiatrist Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Harvard Medical School

MPH Harvard School of Public Health 2017

MD Harvard Medical School 2008

bipolar disorder; carcinoma, ductal; carcinoma, non-small-cell lung; cost of illness; lung neoplasms; neoplasms; palliative care; parents; resuscitation orders; schizophrenia; terminal care; terminally ill

Dr. Irwin is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a faculty psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center and MGH Schizophrenia Program. Dr. Irwin graduated from Harvard University in 2001, worked with Doctors for Global Health in El Salvador, and then returned to Harvard Medical School, receiving her MD in 2008, and completing her residency in psychiatry at MGH and McLean in 2012. She received her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2017.  She is current a fellow at the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and President of the American Psychosocial Society. 

Dr. Irwin is the Director of the Collaborative Care and Community Engagement Program, a research and clinical program focused on improving cancer outcomes for people with severe mental illness. In collaboration with community partners, Dr. Irwin established, the Engage Initiative, a coalition dedicated to ensuring that mental illness is never a barrier to cancer care or research. 

Dr. Irwin’s research interests focus on understanding health disparities for individuals with severe mental illness. Dr. Irwin is interested in understanding why people with serious mental illness including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are more likely to die from cancer and in developing interventions to improve cancer outcomes throughout the continuum of cancer care including prevention, early detection, treatment, and end-of-life care. With support from the American Cancer Society, Dr. Irwin developed and piltoed BRIDGE, a person centered collaborative care program that incorporating proactive psychiatry consultation and case management for individuals with serious mental illness and cancer.  Funded by a career development award from the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Iwrin conducted the first randomized trial targeting patients with serious metal illness at the time of cancer diagnosis. Patients who received the BRIDGE intervention had fewer disruptions in their cancer care and improved mental wellbeing. She is currently investigating strategies to disseminate the BRIDGE model to community oncology settings.