Lisa Eyler, PhD

Lisa Eyler is a professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Director of the Neuroimaging Unit of the Desert-Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at VA San Diego Healthcare System. A clinical psychologist by training, 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, bipolar disorder, and autism. 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 150 scientific papers and chapters. She has conducted several studies aimed at understanding empathy and compassion among older adults, including examining neural correlates and the impact of a drama-based intervention. She is currently involved in two Sanford Institute studies assessing empathy and compassion among medical students at UC San Diego.

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 a faculty mentor in the SDSU / UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, the Advancing Diversity in Aging Research program, the MIRECC Fellowship program, and the Geriatric Mental Health T32 Research Fellowship; she has mentored over 60 trainees at all levels, from high school students to post-doctoral fellows. She has taught courses on research ethics, research methods, and neuroimaging analysis.  Eyler leads equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism efforts in the Department of Psychiatry, is a member of the Health Sciences Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Summits planning group, and serves on the Women in Health Sciences Planning Committee. She has chaired the UCSD School of Medicine Standing and Promotions Committee since 2013 and sits on the Committee on Educational Policy.