Charlotte J. Patterson, Ph.D., is the Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the role of sexual orientation in human development and family lives, particularly the study of child development in lesbian- and gay-parented families. In addition to publishing more than 175 scientific articles and chapters, she has co-edited the prize-winning Handbook of Psychology and Sexual Orientation (Oxford University Press, 2013), and co-chaired the committee that wrote a National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine report entitled, Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQ Populations (National Academies Press, 2020). Patterson is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). She has served as President of APA’s Division 44 (Society for Psychological Study of Sexual and Gender Minority Issues), and her research has been recognized by the APA’s Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy Award, as well as a number of other awards. Patterson’s Ph.D. degree in psychology is from Stanford University.

For Patterson’s CV,