Irène Mathieu
Irène P. Mathieu, MD, MPH, FAAP
Associate Professor, General Pediatrics
Assistant Director, Program in Health Humanities and Ethics, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Dr. Irène P. Mathieu is a general pediatrician at the University of Virginia, where she is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Assistant Director of the Program in Health Humanities. Dr. Mathieu is also principal investigator of the WAYS Lab. She earned a BA in International Relations from the College of William & Mary before completing a Fulbright research fellowship in the Dominican Republic. She attended Vanderbilt University Medical School and completed residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was selected as a Global Health Track resident. Dr. Mathieu has conducted mixed-methods and community-engaged research in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Virginia and Tennessee in the USA. She serves on the steering committee of Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action.
She is also the author of four poetry collections – milk tongue (Deep Vellum Press), Grand Marronage (Switchback Books), which was selected as Editor’s Choice for the Gatewood Prize and runner-up for the Cave Canem/Northwestern book prize; orogeny (Trembling Pillow Press), which won the Bob Kaufman Book Prize; and the galaxy of origins (dancing girl press). Dr. Mathieu has received creative writing fellowships from Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her creative and advocacy work has been featured on NPR, LA Times, The Conversation, the Washington Post, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Philadelphia Inquirer, KevinMD, and many other media outlets and publications.
Research Interests
global health equity, pediatric mental health, adverse childhood experiences, early childhood development, literature and health equity education.
Select Recent Publications and Media
Rogers C, Boguszewski K, Gummadi A, Conaway M, Shaffer L, and Mathieu I. 2025. “Measuring disparities in the impact of COVID-19 on pediatric mental health in primary care settings.” Mental Health Science 3:e70015.
Mathieu I and Martin B. 2025. “‘Where you can see the whole town:’ Investigating power and perspective through Tyree Daye’s poetry.” Academic Medicine. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000006013.
Gummadi A, Griffin K, Contractor F, Forrester J, and Mathieu I. 2025. “Building ethical foundations in research: Adaptation of a research ethics training for adolescents in youth participatory action research.” Ethics and Human Research 47(2).
Literature inspired my medical career: Why the humanities are needed in health care
https://theconversation.com/literature-inspired-my-medical-career-why-the-humanities-are-needed-in-health-care-217357
Commentary on “Doctor’s Office First Week in This Country”
Irène P Mathieu1
https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy1.library.virginia.edu/34074903/
The art of equity: critical health humanities in practice
https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy1.library.virginia.edu/38087361/
“First Person: Irène Mathieu, MD and Danny Becker, MD.” Interview and video feature shown at the 2021 American Association of Medical Colleges conference. https://vimeo.com/user13782109/review/626803203/04ee5b9aa0
“Teaching Health Equity Through Poetry and Narrative Medicine.” Interview for Primary Care Perspectives podcast. 2020. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/primary-care-perspectives-teaching-health-equity-through/id1173973702?i=1000498241330
Mathieu I, Wallis K, Japa I, Cordero R, Deverlis A, Steenhoff A, and Lowenthal E. Caregiver strengths, attitudes, and concerns about reading and child development in the Dominican Republic. Global Pediatric Health 7, Jul 2020. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2333794X20942661
Flood D,* Mathieu I,* Chary A, García P, Rohloff P. “Perceptions and utilization of generic medicines in Guatemala: A mixed-methods study with physicians and pharmacy staff.” BMC Health Services Research 17(27), Jan 2017. *Equal contribution. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-017-1991-z
Mathieu I, Sommer E, Mitchell S, Barkin S. “Urban Latino families’ food environment and young children’s produce consumption.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 27(4):1899-1908, Nov 2016. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/634636