Katherine Mitchell, MD
VA Quality Scholar
Dr. Mitchell is a former nurse and current physician with over 18 years experience within the VA health care system. As a long-time VA Emergency Department physician Dr. Mitchell became quite familiar with the physical and mental health issues challenging today’s Veterans. As the medical director of the Phoenix VA Post-Deployment Clinic, Dr. Mitchell developed an in-depth understanding of the multiple physical, psychological, and psychosocial concerns of Post 9/11 Veterans. While providing care for OEF/OIF/OND Veterans Dr. Mitchell recognized how mental health issues could cause significant impairment of student-Veterans’ learning abilities. Dr. Mitchell saw a tremendous need to educate student-Veterans, caregivers, and other health care providers about the availability of academic accommodations for psychiatric diagnoses. Dr. Mitchell recognized these accommodations could empower Veterans to self-advocate, overcome barriers to learning, and ultimately achieve academic success. With the goal of disseminating information to Veterans and health care providers throughout the VA, as a VA Quality Scholar she subsequently developed educational materials and authored two peer-reviewed journal articles on academic accommodations for Post-9/11 Veterans with psychiatric diagnoses.
