Stephanie Fitzpatrick knew she wanted to help people. Her mother was a phlebotomist, and as a girl growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Fitzpatrick used to shadow her during her hospital shift. “I saw how gentle she was with her patients,” she says. “Explaining what she was doing before she drew blood, checking in on them after—my mom had an ability to make people feel at ease during a stressful time.” Fitzpatrick wanted to help people, and as a kid, a career in medicine seemed like the best way to do that. She decided to become a medical doctor.
She enrolled at the University of Rochester in New York as a premed student, but instead of choosing to major in biology or chemistry, Fitzpatrick chose psychology, partly inspired by her positive experience in a high school psychology 101 class. “To be a better doctor, I thought some coursework in psychology could help me learn how to really talk and listen to people.”
But during her sophomore year, Fitzpatrick hit a wall. “I couldn’t pass organic chemistry,” she says. “I just didn’t understand it.” Thankfully, an undergraduate class in behavioral medicine showed Fitzpatrick a new path. “That class helped me to see the role of psychologists in facilitating chronic disease prevention and management through health behavior change,” she says. She joined the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program and began to shift her focus toward a career in clinical research. She went on to earn a PhD in clinical psychology with a specialization in health psychology from the University of Miami, completed a 1-year health psychology internship at Rush University Medical Center, and then completed a 2-year behavioral medicine postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Fitzpatrick is now the Simons Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research and a professor in the Institute of Health System Science within the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles, has served as principal investigator or coinvestigator on several federal and foundation grants, and has won a number of awards, including the Society of Behavioral Medicine C. Tracy Orleans Distinguished Service Award.
As a behavioral and implementation scientist, Fitzpatrick’s focus is diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.
“In my work, I try to understand how to implement combined behavioral and social care interventions for chronic disease prevention and management in clinical and community-based settings,” she says. “My research is about getting evidence-based, behavioral interventions to the communities that need it the most.”
A number of challenges impede this effort.
“Implementation needs to be tailored to meet people where they are. How do people access the intervention? In what language? Is the intervention culturally relevant and appropriate?” Fitzpatrick says. “We need to understand and acknowledge the historical, political, and social context in which people are trying to manage their health.”
“Then, do people have the resources to follow through on behavior change recommendations?” she adds. “If we’re telling people to eat healthy, increase physical activity, and manage stress, do people have access to well-resourced and safe environments to do all of those things? If not, how can we navigate and connect them to resources and programs that address those socioeconomic barriers?”
Creating unique solutions for diverse populations is no easy task, but it is part of Fitzpatrick’s mission to advance health equity.
“When I realized being a medical doctor wasn’t my path, I had no idea where a degree in clinical psychology would lead me,” she says. “The path wasn’t linear, but I still ended up doing exactly what I wanted to be doing—helping people.”
