PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Psychiatry
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Therapeutics Research Program
Area of Interest
Dr. Patrick Smith is a clinical psychologist and biostatistician at UNC-Chapel Hill. He completed his PhD in clinical health psychology at Duke University, postdoctoral fellowships in both behavioral medicine and neuropsychology at Duke University Medical Center, and an MPH in biostatistics at UNC-Chapel Hill.
He has worked on more than a dozen randomized clinical trials examining the effects of lifestyle modification and coping skills training on cognitive functioning and associated cardiometabolic biomarkers. Among his research activities, he currently serves as the principal investigator for an NIA-funded, time restricted fasting intervention among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (R61AG080615-01) and recently served as the principal investigator an NHLBI-funded R01 (R01HL130237) examining cerebrovascular and endothelial mechanisms of cognitive impairment among patients with treatment-resistant hypertension. He also serves as the co-Principal Investigator of a remotely delivered prehabilitation program in lung transplant patients.
He currently serves as the lead clinical neuropsychologist at UNC-Chapel Hill as part of the Duke-UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). He also previously served as an invited expert member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant’ s consensus guidelines committee and was specifically tasked with constructing the sections on cognitive function and psychiatric history.
His long term clinical research interests are in the development of biobehavioral interventions among aging individuals with chronic medical disease risk factors, who are at increased risk for untoward psychological and cognitive outcomes. For many aging individuals, chronic diseases require new and more flexible coping strategies to preserve their clinical and cognitive functioning. In parallel, worsening clinical or cognitive function often results in limitations that require individuals to alter the way they accomplish common critical self-management behaviors, such as medication adherence, regular exercise, and dietary health. Understanding the interplay of psychological and cognitive processes, as well as integrating biomarker profiles to better understand clinical risk, offers unique ways to help complex cancer patients lead more fulfilling and longer lives.
Awards and Honors
- Awards and HonoSociety of Behavioral Medicine, Midcareer Fellow, 2023
- Research Career Institute in the Mental Health of Aging (CIMA), 2021
- Duke Roybal Center for Translational Research, Member, 2021
- Duke Transplant Center, Associate Director of Transplant Research, 2021
- Duke Aging Center, Senior Fellow, 2020
- Duke Appointments and Promotions Committee, 2019
- Duke Strategic Planning Committee, Behavioral Medicine Representative, 2019
- Duke LEADER Program Awardee / Participant, 2018
- Society of Behavioral Medicine Distinguished Abstract Citation, 2018
- Outstanding Peer Reviewer, Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2015
- NIMH Summer Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry Awardee / Participant, 2012
