LaKeetra Josey

PhD, RN, CRNP, PMHNP-BC , Doctoral (Alumni)

Lakeetra M. Josey, PhD, RN, CRNP, PMHNP-BC, graduated in 2016 with her PhD in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. Her area of interest is in improving the physical health outcomes for people, particularly of racial and ethnic minorities, with serious mental illnesses. This interest was sparked by the 2006 report that people with mental illnesses die, on average, 25 years younger than those without mental illnesses. Her work focuses on exploring and understanding this phenomenon, conducting research, and developing interventions to address this health disparity.

Dr. Josey is a practicing Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and serves as the Associate Program Director of the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Temple University, School of Nursing. She is certified as a Master Psychopharmacologist from the Neuroscience Education Institute and believes her primary objective in working with clients with mental health issues is to assist them to live their fullest and healthiest lives possible.

Dr. Josey’s research experience has been in mental health policy and services focused on interventions that promote recovery and community integration for people with mental illnesses. She has co-authored manuscripts that have been published in mental health journals and most recently was the lead author of a chapter on prescribing for Depressive Disorders in the newly released Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Nurses published by the American Medical Association.

She grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her first undergraduate degree was in Psychology. After working in an inpatient psychiatric setting, she began the Accelerated BSN/MSN program at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon completion of the Psychiatric Mental-Health Nurse Practitioner program, she worked in clinical practice in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient, partial hospitals, and psychiatric consults. She also assisted in developing a behavioral health program in a Federally Qualified Health Center to help bring specialized mental health care into a Primary Care setting.

Dr. Josey is a wife, a mother, and an active member of her church. In her “free” time she likes to cook, and especially loves to eat. She hopes to travel to at least two new places each year to expose herself and her family to new cultures and ways of living.