Lisa Eyler, PhD

Lisa T. Eyler is a professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and directs the Center for Empathy and Compassion Training in Medical Education in the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion.  She is also a Clinical Research Psychologist in the Desert-Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at VA San Diego Healthcare System. A clinical psychologist by training, one facet of Dr. Eyler’s research focuses on cognitive, emotional, and brain aging and development across a range of populations, including community-dwelling older adults and people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She has expertise in the use of cognitive assessment, structural and functional neuroimaging, blood-based biomarkers of inflammation, and mobile ecological momentary assessment for both observational and interventional studies. She has been principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous federally-funded grants, and has published over 200 scientific papers and chapters and is a member of several international research consortia. Dr. Eyler also coordinates the research efforts within the Center for Empathy and Compassion Training which include Center-led initiatives and Center-sponsored Medical Education Seed Grants.  Center-led initiatives comprise studies of the impact of Institute-funded educational programs, such as Compassionatomy and the Sanford Scholars program; a longitudinal cohort study of empathy, compassion, and burnout among medical students; and, scholarship on how basic research on empathy and compassion can be used to improve applied training for health sciences students.

Dr. Eyler completed her doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania and came to UC San Diego as a clinical psychology intern in 1996. She became faculty at VA San Diego Healthcare in 1999 and at UC San Diego in 2000. She is active in teaching, including as co-director of a core course at the UC San Diego School of Medicine for first- and second-year medical students – Compassionate Action and Real Engagement in the Community (CARE). She is a faculty mentor in numerous research training programs for undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Eyler is active in leading equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts in Health Sciences, is the convener of the EDI Ambassadors group, and serves on the Women in Health Sciences Planning Committee. She received the 2019 UCSD Campus-wide Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award and was the 2023 UCSD Honoree at the YWCA Tribute to Women in Leadership Awards.