Patti Risica (AKA in stuffier circles, Dr. Patricia Markham Risica, DrPH) was born in Columbus, Ohio.  She and her family traveled and lived in several places throughout her childhood including Libya, Maryland, and Utah.  Patti finished high school back in Ohio and attended The Ohio State University, where she learned about all things Buckeye, and studied nutrition (BS, Medical Dietetics).  For five years at University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, she was immersed in critical care nutrition and care for a very poor and diverse population.  Having experienced first hand, the need to focus more on prevention and the clearly visible health disparities, she then studied Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (MPH and DrPH in Public Health).   Adding further to her exposures, she and husband Bob moved to Anchorage, AK, where Patti joined a team conducting field research in rural, Northwest Alaska for her dissertation project.  Like the Salmon, Patti and Bob (and daughter #1) then returned to the lower 48 to Rhode Island (Bob’s home), where Patti joined a team at Brown University that is now the Institute for Community Heath Promotion.

Patti now lives with her husband and two girls in Narraganset, RI.