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We are saddened to report the passing of Katherine T. "Katie" Patterson, MD, FAAFP, of Indianola, MS. She passed away Sunday, September 4, due to complications from Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, which she had only been diagnosed with ten days earlier.
There was scarcely a position within the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians that Dr. Patterson did not hold. An MAFP Past President (2017-18), she was currently one of two Mississippi delegates to AAFP Congress of Delegates, the current Advocacy Committee chair, and the current FamDocPAC chair.
Only weeks ago, Dr. Patterson was honored with the MAFP's John B. Howell Memorial Award, also known as the Family Physician of the Year for 2022. The award is presented annually to the family physician contributing the most to the development of family medicine in Mississippi. It recognizes a physician who provides his or her community with compassionate and comprehensive medical service on a continuous basis. Dr. Patterson received this award on July 19 at the MAFP Annual Meeting in Sandestin, FL. She was one of the youngest individuals, and only the second female, to receive the award since its beginning in 1977.
Read Dr. Patterson's story in her own words - a transcript of the short speech she gave in July 2017 accepting the MAFP presidency.
Dr. Patterson was board-certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and practiced for 15 years in Indianola at Indianola Family Medicine and South Sunflower Hospital. One of the state's only family physicians who practiced obstetrics, Dr. Patterson delivered babies almost daily, caring for mothers, infants and children in a town of only 10,000 people. Despite being a family physician, Dr. Patterson was voted 'Best Pediatrician' by readers of the local newspaper in 2021.
Dr. Patterson had the ability to communicate complicated issues on a level that a layperson could understand. Not only did she teach and mentor many medical students and residents each year, in 2021 she was interviewed in the 'Bridging the Great Divide' television documentary, bringing awareness to the difficulties of rural health care.
Dr. Patterson was a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. She completed family medicine residency at Corpus Christi Family Medicine Residency in Corpus Christi, TX, before returning to Mississippi to practice.
Always giving back to her community, Dr. Patterson served for two years as a volunteer physician advisor at the Good Samaritan Clinic in Sunflower County. She was president of Friends of the Henry M. Seymour Library, secretary of the Indianola Civic League, and serves on several church boards. Professionally, she served since 2013 on the board of the Office of Mississippi Physician Workforce which seeks to create more primary care residencies in our state.
Dr. Patterson leaves behind a husband, David, and four sons: Samuel (15), Reilly (12), Nicholas (11), and John Kastens (7). They are members of Indianola United Methodist Church.
Visitation will be Saturday, Sept. 10, from 1-4 at Indianola First United Methodist Church, in Bailey Hall, at 204 Main Street in Indianola. The service will follow at 4 pm Saturday in the same location. When an obituary is published, we will send it out to the membership.
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