Faculty Profile for Dr. Catherine Joy Messinger

Biography Section

Biography and Education

I have practiced as a Family Nurse practitioner since 1997 in the areas of Primary Care, Cardiology and the Emergency Room. I have taught at the Graduate Nursing level since 2001. I completed my Post-Masters as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Western Kentucky University 8-2019 and became certified as a PMHNP 9-2019. I obtained my BSN 1994 and MSN 1997 from the University of Nebraska College of Nursing. I received my DNP 2013 from the University of Iowa College of Nursing. My current practice is in general psychiatry and addiction medicine.

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests include Integrative Psychiatry, educating how to conduct a Psychiatric evaluation and then teaching my students how to encounter the mental health patient population with empathy and compassion. I am also very interested in teaching how the mind and body connection is so very important to the overall health of the patient.

Research Interests

I hope to investigate the lived experiences of the populations listed above, starting with those patients with substance use disorders related to opioid use and stimulant use this year. Anecdotally, I have been hearing stories of less than positive experiences within the healthcare system and I am finding very little research surrounding that topic. I plan to do a lived experience project and take the information I obtain and develop an educational tool or presentation that I can share with those who work in areas of healthcare that these patient populations frequent, to help them understand ways to interact with these patients that will improve the patient experience, which will hopefully improve outcomes. These populations often encounter stigma and feel very judged, so my goal is to help that.