Donald L. Patrick
Donald L. Patrick is a social scientist, academic, and an author. He is a professor emeritus of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington.
Patrick's research spans the fields of public health, chronic illness, public health policy, outcomes research, quality of life, health status assessment.
Patrick is a member of National Academy of Medicine, and was the first president of International Society for Quality of Life Research.
Education
Patrick graduated from the Northwestern University with a major in Psychology in 1966. Subsequently, he attended Columbia University, completed his MSPH degree in 1968, and graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Public Health in 1972.Career
He was the first Director of Program in Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington and held this appointment from 1987 until 2006. He is currently professor emeritus at the institute.Research and work
Patrick partook in a WHO project focused on the development of QOL measuring instrument. The particular features of the planned instrument, and the study protocol was reported in 1993. Later on, in a 1998 research paper by WHOQOL Group, he developed final-trial version of instrument entitled, "WHOQOL-100".Patrick has also conducted research on evaluating the quality of death, and exploring the measure of the quality of the dying. In one of his research studies, he designed and supervised after-death interviews with the family members of the deceased since the research findings can be utilized for the improvement of near-death care, and experience of the dying patients.
Patrick has conducted outcomes research, focused on vulnerable populations, chronic illness, as well as end of life care. In a Delphi study, a consensus was reached over the taxonomy, and terminology of the measures aimed at patient-reported outcomes based on health. Having focused on the PRO, he also determined the content validity on the PRO instruments aimed for the use in medical product evaluation.
Awards and honors
- 1993 – Elected inaugural president, International Society for Quality of Life Research
- 1995 – Elected member, National Academy of Medicine
- 2001 – President's Award, International Society for Quality of Life Research
- 2012 – Avedis Donabedian Lifetime Achievement Award, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research