Center for Digital Health

John Pateña, MPH, MA

Program Director, Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health
john_patena@brown.edu
LinkedIn
Research Interests Behavioral interventions, Implementation Science

Biography

John Pateña, MPH, MA ​​is a public health professional with a passion for promoting mental health through dissemination and implementation research. His career focuses on developing innovative approaches to prevent mental illness and support mental well-being among high-risk populations; scaling up evidence-based interventions and public health programs/initiatives in low-resourced settings; and fostering organizational- and systems-level changes through public health leadership.

John has a dual background in public health and counseling psychology, integrating his mental health training with a prevention framework. John graduated from Brown University School of Public Health (MPH ’14) concentrating in behavioral and social sciences interventions. He has conducted mental health research at academic medical centers, developing and testing digital health interventions for behavioral health disorders and violence prevention. John has also implemented public health programs/initiatives in the areas of tobacco cessation, lung health, and chronic disease management at various non-profit organizations. He has extensive experience collaborating with community-based organizations, health departments, and health clinics. John also has a degree in counseling psychology, and has practiced as a mental health counselor working with youth and adolescents in hospitals, schools, and community centers. John is an active member of the American Public Health Association, and is presently an elected Section Councilor for the APHA Mental Health Section.

John is currently the Program Director at the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. In this role, he executes the Center’s intellectual mission, vision, values, and strategic plan to advance its research portfolio, educational initiatives, and community partnerships. He directs the Center’s overall operational efficiency by advising senior leadership on priority areas and fostering a collaborative work environment. John serves as the strategic and operational partner to Brown University to develop and grow the Center as a resource for digital health innovation.

John is simultaneously earning a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) concentrating in Implementation Science as part of the 2021 inaugural DrPH cohort at New York University School of Global Public Health. His dissertation focuses on evaluating implementation research outcomes for evidence-based mental health interventions in low-resourced settings. John is currently a member of the Implementing Sustainable Evidence-based interventions through Engagement (ISEE) Lab at NYU and serves as the Section Leader for Advancing the Science of Implementation in Global Settings.

John’s vision is to be a public health leader within the population mental health field.

Publications

  1. Fraser HS, Cohan G, Koehler C, Anderson J, Lawrence A, Patena JV, Bacher I, Ranney ML. Evaluation of diagnostic and triage accuracy and usability of a symptom checker in an emergency department: Observational study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 2022; 10(9): e38364. [DOI: 10.2196/38364]
  2. Peprah E, Myers B, Kengne AP, Shahawy OE, Ojo T, Mukasa B, Ezechi O, Iwelunmor J, Ryan N, Fatoumata S, Patena JV, Gyamfi J. Using a syndemics framework to understand how substance use contributes to morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV in Africa: A call to action. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jan 19; 19(3): 1097. [PMID: 35162121] [PMCID: PMC8834153] [DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19031097]
  3. Kutok ER, Doria N, Dunsiger S, Patena JV, Nugent NR, Riese A, Rosen RK, Ranney ML. Feasibility and cost of using Instagram to recruit adolescents to a remote intervention. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Nov; 69(5): 838-846. [PMID: 34059428] [DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.04.021]
  4. Kutok ER, Dunsiger S, Patena JV, Nugent NR, Riese A, Rosen RK, Ranney ML. A cyberbullying media-based prevention intervention for adolescents on Instagram: Pilot randomized controlled trial. JMIR Ment Health. 2021 Sep 15; 8(9): e26029. [PMID: 34524103] [PMCID: PMC8482167] [DOI: 10.2196/26029]
  5. Shandhi MMH, Goldsack JC, Ryan K, Bennion A, Kotla AV, Feng A, Jiang Y, Wang WK, Hurst T, Patena JV, Carini S, Chung J, Dunn J. Recent academic research on clinically relevant digital measures: Systematic review. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Sep 15; 23(9): e29875. [PMID: 34524089] [PMCID: PMC8482196] [DOI: 10.2196/29875]
  6. Burke TA, Kutok ER, Dunsiger S, Nugent NR, Patena JV, Riese A, Ranney ML. A national snapshot of U.S. adolescents’ mental health and changing technology use during COVID-19. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2021 Jul-Aug; 71: 147-148. [PMID: 34090695] [DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2021.05.006]
  7. Scherzer CR, Ranney ML, Jain S, Bommaraju SP, Patena JV, Langdon K, Nimaja E, Jennings E, Beaudoin FL. Mobile peer-support for opioid use disorders: Refinement of an innovative machine learning tool. J Psychiatr Brain Sci. 2020; 5(1): e200001. [PMID: 32149192] [PMCID: PMC7059630] [DOI: 10.20900/jpbs.20200001]
  8. Ranney ML, Patena JV, Dunsiger S, Spirito A, Cunningham RM, Boyer EW, Nugent NR. A technology-augmented intervention to prevent peer violence and depressive symptoms among at-risk emergency department adolescents: Protocol for a randomized control trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2019 Jul; 82: 106-114. [PMID: 31129373] [PMCID: PMC6606356] [DOI: 10.1016/j.cct.2019.05.009]
  9. Thorsen MM, Patena JV, Guthrie KM, Spirito A, Ranney ML. Using high-risk adolescents’ voices to develop a comprehensive cognitive behavioral therapy-based text-message program. Behav Med. 2018 Apr-Jun; 44(2): 89-99. [PMID: 27594559] [PMCID: PMC5336547] [DOI: 10.1080/08964289.2016.1223597]
  10. Ranney ML, Patena JV, Nugent NR, Spirito A, Boyer EW, Zatzick DF, Cunningham RM. PTSD, cyberbullying, and peer violence: Prevalence and correlates among adolescent emergency department patients. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2016 Mar-Apr; 39: 32-38. [PMID: 26786845] [PMCID: PMC4779373] [DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2015.12.002]
  11. Ranney ML, Thorsen MM, Patena JV, Cunningham RM, Boyer EW, Walton MA, Spirito A, Zatzick DF, Morrow K. “You need to get them where they feel it”: Conflicting perspectives on how to maximize the structure of text-message psychological interventions for adolescents. Proc Annu Hawaii Int Conf Syst Sci. 2015 Jan; 2015: 3247-3255. [PMID: 26640419] [PMCID: PMC4669198] [DOI: 10.1109/HICSS.2015.391]
  12. Roberts C. Patena JV, Pearlman DN. Rhode Island youth tobacco use: Implications for pediatricians and family physicians. RI Med J. 2013 May; 96(5): 48-51. [PMID: 23641465]