Patricia A. Areán

Patricia A. Areán, PhD, is a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a licensed clinical psychologist.

Dr. Areán is an international expert on the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for mood disorders, in particular on adapting these interventions for a variety of health and mental health settings (primary care medicine, assisted living, social service, mental health) and more recently on mobile health applications.

Since 1994, she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on these topics and has been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute on Aging,National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the Hartford Foundation. She is currently funded by NIMH to study the effectiveness of brain games and mobile health apps on mood.

Dr. Areán’s work has won national recognition, resulting in an early career award from APA, a midcareer Award from the National Institutes of Health for her work on disseminating evidence-based practices, and the Award for Achievements in Diversity in Mental Health from the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Dr. Areán currently leads an interdisciplinary research team of researchers from diverse backgrounds, including social work, nursing, psychiatry, family and general medicine, medical sociology, and clinical psychology.