Kathleen M. Brown
Practice Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania
Kathleen Brown, NP, PhD is a Practice Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Nurse Practitioner in women’s health, and received her Master’s and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Brown’s research interests are related to victimization. In the 1990s, she introduced a sexual assault nurse examiner program to every county in Pennsylvania that has a hospital. These programs forged new relationships between nursing, law enforcement, and crime laboratories, bringing compassionate, efficient and effective care to adult and child victims of hands-on sex crimes. More recently, Dr. Brown brought sexual assault nurse examiner programs to the entire State of New Jersey, creating an excellent nurse-based response to sexual victimization throughout the state. In 2013, she introduced a first-of-its-kind sexual assault nurse examiner program to the Philadelphia jail system. Outcome studies are being conducted by Dr. Brown and nurses employed by this large urban jail system.
Currently Dr. Brown and a Philadelphia-based ex-offender community partner have created the “Breaking the Cycle” Program, designed to house women trafficked for sex in transitional homes for one year. The program focuses on assisting in the areas of addiction, mental health and physical health. Once participants are physically and mentally stable, the program helps them acquire an entry-level job, and complete a certification course offered by the city that will sustain them in independent housing. Dr. Brown will follow the women for a total of three years and will produce a template for American cities defining best practices for this very vulnerable population.
Dr. Brown teaches Victimology, Forensic Mental Health, and Forensic Science. Students in her Forensic Science class assist investigators (prosecution and defense) with unsolved homicide cases and cases scheduled for appeal via updating forensic science.
Dr. Brown is a sought after expert witness in sexual assault and sexual homicide cases by both prosecution and defense in criminal and civil cases.