Jennifer K Penberthy, MA, PhD

Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy, PhD, is a clinical psychologist who holds the Chester F. Carlson Professorship Chair in Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the UVA School of Medicine.

A clinician, researcher, teacher, and innovator, she uses contemplative practices to help people who have deep mental suffering, and chronic medical conditions, such as cancer and lupus.

She shares, “I have always been a helper and interested in finding ways to help people better understand themselves and their histories in order to engage in treatment that can help alleviate their symptoms, improve their quality of life and their relationships, as well as their own self-esteem. Ultimately, I want to help promote hope for the future.”

Dr. Penberthy grew up in Lewisburg, West Virginia, the oldest daughter of a cardiothoracic surgeon and a nurse. She loved living in the mountains and spending time outside playing in the woods and streams.

She obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in experimental psychology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She received her PhD in clinical psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

She completed her internship in Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine at Eastern Virginia School of Medicine and her Fellowship in Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where she has been on faculty since 2001.

Dr. Penberthy also employs mindfulness and contemplative practices to help educate medical residents and physicians in how best to work with distressed patients while also taking care of themselves. She has published extensively on mindfulness and healing and presented across the world. She most recently co-authored a book with her daughter, Morgan. Their book, Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide, is published by Routledge Taylor & Francis.

An important part of Dr. Penberthy’s work at the University of Virginia School of Medicine is her research exploring the use of mindfulness and contemplative practices for patients suffering from chronic illnesses such as lupus and cancer.

She developed an innovative contemplative intervention for patients living with lupus that includes their support people. This intervention is currently being piloted and tested to examine the impact not only on well-being, pain, and fatigue in patients, but also the impact on their actual physiological disease process, with the hopes to significantly impact these important components.

Dr. Penberthy treats patients in psychiatry and at the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. She strives to provide the most effective whole-person approach to treatment. “I am very invested in knowing and treating the whole person and I feel strongly that this is why my clinical outcomes are so good. I do not treat diseases — I treat people.”

Dr. Penberthy applies cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and acceptance-based psychotherapies in patients with mental health disorders. She sees patients in the Outpatient Psychiatry clinics at UVA Health.

In her work with those suffering from psychological symptoms, Dr. Penberthy also utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP). This is an interpersonal mindfulness-based therapy that “looks at the connection between the person’s learning and their current symptoms.”

The idea is that early learning from childhood, and even in current times, impacts symptoms and will keep doing so until this old learning is effectively addressed.

Dr. Penberthy’s research clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of those therapies which include a contemplative component because she says, “None of the therapies work really well if the person is not in a mindful state. We use mindfulness within the therapy to augment it, not supplant it.”

Dr. Penberthy is not only a clinician and researcher, but also a teacher. She introduces medical students and medical residents to concrete techniques to integrate contemplative practices into their work with patients and for themselves.

She shares, “When working with fellows, residents and students, I introduce mindful-based therapies by doing some exercises when we first meet — settling in and talking about what it is like to be present, just scanning their bodies and talking about where they are.”

Preparing residents to be better physicians not only helps their future patients, but also provides tools for the students themselves: “So many of the residents coming into our program are demoralized — they’ve worked long hours, and they’re scared because they don’t know if they know enough. At the same time, they have their own issues — divorce, anxiety, depression. I like to think that these mindfulness techniques can help them as well, so they can then go forward and help other people.”

Based on her own experience working with medical residents and students, Dr. Penberthy is optimistic that contemplative practices are going to become increasingly utilized throughout UVA and across the globe. She is hopeful that contemplative and mindfulness practices can help foster and grow healthy, productive individuals and thus further advancements in greater global health, equity, and prosperity.

Her clinical expertise includes:

• Anxiety
• Persistent depressive disorders
• Post traumatic stress
• Cancer-related stress
• Burnout
• Mindfulness
• Meditation
• Grief and loss
• Fear of death and dying
• Extraordinary experiences

Gender

Female

Languages

English

Age Groups Seen

Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)

Fellowships

University of Virginia School of Medicine

Certification

American Board of Professional Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Appointment

Chester F. Carlson Professorship Chair - Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences

Additional Specialties

Psychology