Bringing Two Worlds Together: A Collaborative Interview With JoEllen Patterson

Abstract

JoEllen Patterson is Professor in the Marital and Family Therapy Program at the University of San Diego. She is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, directing a medical family therapy clinic embedded in a Family Medicine residency (equivalent to General Practice in New Zealand). She also works in Pediatrics and Reproductive Medicine at UCSD. At present her work involves training family therapy students and family medicine residents to do interdisciplinary work using a biopsychosocial model. Research suggests that our bodies are influenced by our mental health; our immune systems and cardiovascular systems seem especially susceptible to mind-body interplay. JoEllen is particularly interested in how family functioning influences the mind-body system. In 2003, JoEllen Patterson received a Fulbright Senior Scholars award to visit the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the Child, Adolescent and Family Service in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. She spent two weeks between the clinical service and the academic department, teaching, consulting and advising. I was lucky enough to arrange this posting and to spend time with her during it.