Biography

Dr. Berkley-Patton is a professor in the UMKC School of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical and Health informatics. She received both her master’s degree in human development and family life, and a doctorate in developmental psychology HIV/AIDS at the University of Kansas. She joined the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2005 in a postdoctoral fellowship position founded by the National Institute of Mental Health in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Berkley-Patton received a tenure as an associate professor in the UMKC Department of Psychology, where she still remains as an adjunct. She leads the unconquered path of African American and community health research for the UMKC School of Medicine faculty. One of her noted research projects, Taking It to the Pews, was funded with a $3.2 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to assess HIV testing. She is the director of the UMKC Community Health Research Group, which supports collaborative community research, and provides doctoral and undergraduate training in community participatory research.

Dr. Berkley-Patton has been awarded many honors and professional memberships, including the Heartland Health Network and the National institute of Minority Health and health Disparities. She is a reviewer for both the University of Missouri Research Board and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she helps improve public health practices through translational research.

Research focus

Using community-based participatory research methods, Berkley-Patton focuses on health education, prevention, screening, and care support in African American churches and Jamaica.

Research summary

Dr. Berkley-Patton interests include helping improve the health of African Americans, where she used collaborative, community-based approaches to allow her to launch new innovative research studies in several settings. She has led and contributed to several community-based intervention trials using a range of intervention strategies from individual behavior change for improving health behavior in large community-based studies, including studies focused on HIV/STDs, HIV medication adherence, diabetes and heart disease/stroke. She uses community based participatory research approaches, in conducting increased HIV screening rates in African American churches.