Skip to Main Content

Emma Lo, MD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Medical Director, Street Psychiatry Team, Psychiatry; Co-director, Public Psychiatry Track, Psychiatry; Clinical Faculty, Division of Addictions; Clinical Faculty, Adult Psychiatry

Contact Information

Emma Lo, MD

Mailing Address

  • Psychiatry

    Connecticut Mental Health Center, 34 Park St

    New Haven, CT 06511

    United States

Biography

Dr. Lo has dedicated her career to working with vulnerable and marginalized populations, specifically focusing on people experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness. She is the founder and Medical Director for the newly established Street Psychiatry Program at the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC). She is actively involved in the Street Medicine Institute, where she serves as a faculty advisor on the Learning and Education Advisory Panel, which supervises the Street Medicine Institute Student Coalition, an international group of medical trainees leading and developing best practices for student-run street medicine programs around the world. She has been invited for multiple internal and external speaking engagements and presented numerous times about her work in Street Psychiatry. Her research interests lie in mental health services implementation, health care access issues for vulnerable populations, medical education in structural competency and social determinants of health, and addressing racial and economic disparities on systemic levels.

Prior to her time at Yale, Dr. Lo worked with a prominent street medicine program in Pittsburgh, PA where she first trained and contributed to the field of street medicine. She then served as a Street Medicine Fellow in Kolkata, India where she worked on quality improvement for a program providing medical care to people living on the streets and slums. During medical school at the University of Rochester, she established and led a new student-run street medicine program which provided medical care, education, and connection to services for people experiencing homelessness in Rochester, NY. She spent a year in rural Uganda training Village Health Workers who brought primary care and health screening to those without access to health centers.


Education & Training

  • Public Psychiatry Fellow
    Yale University (2019)
  • Residency
    Yale University School of Medicine (2019)
  • MD
    University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Medical Humanities Track (2015)
  • BA
    Haverford College, Fine Arts (2008)

Honors & Recognition

AwardAwarding OrganizationDate
Ira Levine AwardYale Department of Psychiatry2017
Distinction in Community HealthUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine2015
The Medical Society of the State of New York Community Service AwardUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine2015
The Kenneth Woodward Memorial AwardUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine2015
Gold Humanism SocietyUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine2013
Excellence in Public HealthUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine2013
National Health Service Corps ScholarNational Health Service Corps2011
Phi Beta Kappa SocietyHaverford College2008
Fine Arts Departmental HonorsHaverford College2008
Magna Cum LaudeHaverford College2008

Professional Service

OrganizationRoleDate
Medical and Professional Staff Executive CommitteeLeadership Committee2021 - Present
Anti-racism Task Force - Community SubcommitteeMulti-disciplinary task force to address racial disparities on the community level2021 - Present
MIT PressReviewed book proposal for MIT Press2021
Medical Records CommitteeMedical records committee at Connecticut Mental Health Center2020 - 2021
Harm Reduction/Overdose Workgroup - City of New HavenCity-wide committee of providers collaborating to prevent opioid overdoses and treat OUD2020 - Present
Residency RecruitmentInterviewer2019 - 2020
Learning and Education Advisory Panel, Street Medicine Institute Student CoalitionSupervise students serving on international panel to assist other students in starting and improving their own street medicine programs, provide webinars and journal club material2018 - Present
American Psychiatric AssociationMember2018 - 2020
PGY-1 RoundtableLead2018 - 2019
Social Justice Health Equity Curriculum CommitteeMember2018 - 2019
American Association of Community PsychiatristsMember2018 - Present
Wellness CommitteeMember2017
Street Psychiatry Program - New Haven, CTFounder and resident coordinator for this new program serving unsheltered homeless individuals in New Haven, CT. Subsequently hired to be the program's attending psychiatrist in 2019.2016 - 2019
Cinema and PsychiatryMember2016 - 2017
Medical Student Education CommitteeMember2016 - 2017
HotspottersMedical student group working individually with high-utilizers with the goal of increasing humanism and reducing morbidity and mortality in seriously ill patients2014 - 2015
Global Health Year-Out Fellow - Kisoro, UgandaLed Village Health Worker program in Kisoro, Uganda to bring access to care to people living in underserved areas2013 - 2014
Honor BoardUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine's Honor Board representative2012 - 2013
UR Well Street OutreachFounded and led student-run program focusing on outreach to unsheltered homeless people in Rochester, NY2010 - 2013
UR Well Race CommitteeOrganized annual fundraiser to support student-run free clinic2010 - 2011
UR Well Student-Run Free ClinicVolunteer2010
Street Medicine Fellow - Calcutta Rescue - Kolkata, IndiaFellow2010
Doctors for Global HealthMember2009 - Present
AmeriCorps Volunteer - Operation Safety Net - Pittsburgh, PAVolunteer2008 - 2009
Street Medicine InstituteMember2008 - Present
Rivkees Pediatric Research LabIntern2005
Fundación Martha Estrella - Haverford College - Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Machachi, EcuadorIntern2005

Departments & Organizations