Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine 1986-2017
Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USC School of Medicine
Partner, San Marino Psychiatric Associates
Dr. Pylko earned his undergraduate degree with an Honors in Neurophysiology at McGill
University in Montreal and then received his medical degree at the University of Toronto where he was given the Stan Kushner Award for best student in Psychiatry. He completed both his psychiatry internship and residency at the UCLA San Fernando Valley Program.
He is board certified in psychiatry. Dr. Pylko is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the California Psychiatric Association and the Southern California Psychiatric Society.
He is an active member of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, California where he also has a position as a service director of one it’s units. Dr Pylko has been a principal investigator or co-investigator in several clinical trials. He has been a presenter at national medical conferences including the American Psychiatric Association Institute on Psychiatric Services and the National Council for Behavioral Health. He has been awarded Super Doctor status from Los Angeles Magazine and TopDoc from Pasadena Magazine for multiple years. In 2009 at the annual meeting of NAMI California he was awarded Recovery Practitioner of the year. In 2014 he received the “Exemplary Psychiatrist” award from NAMI national that was presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in New York City. In 2015 he was honored for his “distinguished service in the field of recovery” at the “Polo in the Palisades” Promises Foundation fundraiser for Miriam’s House.
In 2016, Dr Pylko in partnership with PCH Treatment Center helped create PCH Pasadena to meet the needs of those who need a highly intensive and structured treatment program for patients based in a closely monitored supportive living environment.
Dr Pylko’s primary specialty is working with complex mood disorders and their comorbidities which frequently includes substance use disorders. He embraces a BioPsycho-Social-Spiritual approach to treating patients. He is passionate on fighting stigma in mental illness. He collaborated with the film makers Lisa Klein and Doug Blush on the documentary “Of Two Minds” (oftwomindsmovie.com) exploring the lives of those dealing with Bipolar Disorder that won a “Voice Award” from SAMHSA. He also consulted with them on the documentary film “The “S” Word” (theswordmovie.com) about surviving suicide. It recently also won a “Voice Award”.
