Kent T Mathias, MD : Bio and credentials

My name is Dr. Kent Mathias, and I am an assistant professor in psychiatry and addiction medicine and serve as the inpatient attending physician at the UF Health Psychiatric Hospital addiction unit (West). I received my medical degree from the University of Florida after completing my undergraduate education in Georgia where I was a certified firefighter, EMT and deputy coroner. I completed my psychiatry residency at UF where I served as chief resident and was a departmental representative on several committees for the College of Medicine, including the Admissions and Reaccreditation Committees.

I grew up in a medical family with my father being an otolaryngologist who practiced the majority of his time in a small town in Georgia. I got to see the ripple effects that helping people get healthy had on their family and community, which inspired me to want to be a part of something similar. I continuously find it a rewarding and humbling experience to be part of something bigger than myself. I knew when picking a medical specialty, it had to keep me interested and not algorithmic. Psychiatry, in my opinion, is one of the last medical frontiers that is still being explored from a foundational level. There remains so much to be explored and delineated. It is also a specialty that has major ripple effects, talked about above, when we positively affect someone's mental health. All in all, it is an extremely rewarding specialty.

It's important to me that my patients know I treat each one of them like I would a family member and do my best to practice within the guidelines of the latest evidence-based literature. I am currently working on research for toxilogical forensic drug testing.

I have special expertise in treating patients for substance induced psychosis, substance induced mood disorders, mood disorders, alcohol and drug detoxification, medication assisted therapy for opiate and alcohol use disorders, dual diagnosis (mental health and addiction patients) and professional health.

When I’m not working, I enjoy running, traveling and eating good food.