Riley Machal, MD

Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of Psychiatry

Phone: 402-552-6002

Dr. Machal was born and raised in Ord, Nebraska, and is a graduate of Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. She completed her medical degree at the University of Nebraska Medical Center prior to completing her psychiatric residency training at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. During residency, she developed a passion for improving the physical and mental health of those with severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMI), especially first-episode psychosis (FEP).

Dr. Machal joined the department of psychiatry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Medicine in July 2020 as Co-Director of the Active Support for Psychosis in Recovery (ASPIRE) Clinic – a multi-disciplinary clinic providing wrap-around physical and mental health care to those in the Omaha area living with SPMI.

Dr. Machal has had a lifelong interest in education. She has brought that interest to the ASPIRE clinic advocating for the inclusion of the ASPIRE clinic as a residency training site for psychiatry and primary care residents (the first ASPIRE clinic residents started July 2022). She also recently took on the role of Associate Director for Medical Education with the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) to expand the number of rotations exposing psychiatry residents to work within urban and rural underserved communities as well as supplying psychiatry focused CME opportunities to primary care providers in rural Nebraska. Dr. Machal has also been active in undergraduate medical education though serving as the preclinical course director for the psychiatry portion of the medical school curriculum as well as her role as a member on the UNMC College of Medicine’s Exam Review Committee.

Dr. Machal further advocates for the improvement of medical education’s emphasis on the care of psychiatric patients and the physical and mental well-being of underserved Nebraskans through her role as membership chair of the Nebraska Psychiatric Society. She lives in Omaha with her two dogs. Her favorite activities include spending time with her niece and nephew, reading, traveling, and knitting.