Patricia F. Walker, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH
Distinguished Scholar, HealthPartners Institute
About

Dr. Walker has been a clinician, medical educator and clinical researcher focused on refugee and immigrant health care since 1979. She is internationally recognized for her work in defining the body of knowledge that encompasses refugee and immigrant health care, including publishing the first textbook in the field, Immigrant Medicine, edited by Walker and Barnett. From 2002 to 2004, she chaired the State of Minnesota Immigrant Health Task Force, a group of 70 experts who developed best practices in care for refugees and immigrants in Minnesota that have been published and disseminated internationally. Dr. Walker has published multiple clinical articles, invited commentaries and book chapters on refugee and immigrant health. She lectures widely local, nationally and internationally, and has received numerous awards for her work. She has received more than 20 grants totaling more than $4.0 million, focused primarily on defining best practices in culturally sensitive care for immigrants and disseminating them at HealthPartners, nationally and internationally. She served on HealthPartners Equitable Care Sponsor and Oversight Groups since their inception and helped lead the subgroup that defined HealthPartners demographic data collection, which is critical to reducing health disparities. She also led the Medtronic Foundation grant and design for the current Equitable Care Fellows Program at HealthPartners. As a medical educator, she was the first Program Director for the Global Medicine Pathway at the University of Minnesota, Global Medicine | Medical School, helping to train resident physicians in the field of tropical medicine and refugee and immigrant health. As Dept. Chair for HealthPartners Travel and Tropical Medicine Center, she served as site co-chair for the CDC GeoSentinel program, Home — GeoSentinel an international network of travel medicine clinics engaged in surveillance for emerging infectious diseases and research in travel medicine. She previously served as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. https://www.astmh.org.  Her work was profiled in the Lancet in February 2017, and featured in a documentary film, American Heart, which aired on PBS and received a regional Emmy award American Heart (2013) - IMDb . Her work was also featured in the book, My Heart It Is Delicious, Setting the Course for Cross Cultural Health Care, the Story of the Center for International Health, by Biloine Young.  my heart it is delicious: Setting the Course for Cross-Cultural Health Care; the story of the CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH: Biloine Whiting Young: 9781890434762: Amazon.com: Books  Dr. Walker grew up in Southeast Asia, and speaks Thai and Cambodian. Her career focus has been “globally mobile populations,” defining and implementing best practices in care and developing medical education interventions, all to reduce health disparities. Her areas of expertise include refugee and immigrant health care, travel and tropical medicine, globally mobile populations, LGBTQ+ health, and systems approaches to reduce health disparities.

Former HealthPartners Medical Group positions:
Medical Director, HealthPartners Center for International Health; Department Chair, HealthPartners Travel and Tropical Medicine Center; Co-Chair HealthPartners Equitable Care Sponsors Group. Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota and Former Program Director, Global Medicine, Dept. of Medicine.

Joined the Institute: 2011

Examples of research activities and publications:
Dr. Walker works to define and disseminate best practices in care for refugees, immigrants, and migrants, publish key resources in the field, and translate best practices in refugee and immigrant health care to useful electronic medical record tools for clinicians. Projects include:

  • Co-author, UpToDate Guidelines for the Medical Care of Adult Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants to the United States
  • Author, CDC Yellow Book Chapter on Care for the LGBTQ+ Traveler
  • University of Minnesota CTSI grant: Culturally Competent Cancer Screening: Utilizing Granular Demographic Data and Point Of Care Provider Educational Interventions to Improve Identification Of and Care for Foreign-Born Hepatitis B Carriers (The “Global Health Wizard”)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Refugee Center of Excellence, including authorship of Immigrant Health Matters Immigrant Health Matters - MN Dept. of Health
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reduction of Malaria in US Residents Returning From Overseas Travel
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EpiAid investigation: B12 deficiency in Bhutanese Nepali refugees
  • Impact of global health residency training on medical knowledge of immigrant health
  • Practicing medicine in the global village: Use of guidelines and virtual networks
  • Vitamin D deficiency in refugees
  • Characteristics and spectrum of disease among ill returned travelers from pre- and post-earthquake Haiti: the GeoSentinel experience
  • Chikungunya: acute fever, rash and debilitating arthralgias in a returning traveler from Haiti
  • Guillain-Barre syndrome associated with zika virus infection in a traveler returning from Guyana
Publications While At HealthPartners
selected publications
Journal Article
  • COVID-19 vaccine uptake among non-US-born populations in the United States, 2020-2022
    Vaccine. 2024
  • Core content, competencies, and accreditation in US Global Health Fellowships: a survey of leaders' perspectives
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2024
  • Infections with long latency in international refugees, immigrants, and migrants seen at GeoSentinel sites, 2016-2018
    Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2023
  • Transplantation and immigration: comparing infectious complications and outcomes between foreign-born and US-born kidney transplant recipients in Minnesota
    Transplant Infectious Disease. 2023
  • Cancer screening in refugees and immigrants: a global perspective
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2022
  • Improving care for patients with chronic hepatitis B via establishment of a disease registry
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2022
  • Global is local: does formal resident global health medical education improve clinical care in the United States?
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2021
  • Hepatitis B evaluation and linkage to care for newly arrived refugees: a multisite quality improvement initiative
    Journal of immigrant and minority health. 2021
  • The cost of global connectivity: faster and more efficient spread of antimicrobial resistance by international travelers - a controversial commentary
    Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2021
  • The value and interpretation of race and ethnicity data in the era of global migration: a change is in order
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2021
  • Travel arrangements in chronic hemodialysis patients: a qualitative study
    Hemodialysis international. International Symposium on Home Hemodialysis. 2021
  • A best practice alert for identifying hepatitis B-infected patients
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2020
  • Barriers to malaria prevention among immigrant travelers in the United States who visit friends and relatives in sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional, multi-setting survey of knowledge, attitudes, and practices
    PloS One. 2020
  • COVID-19 and dexamethasone: a potential strategy to avoid steroid-related strongyloides hyperinfection
    JAMA. 2020
  • Evaluation of a program to improve linkage to and retention in care among refugees with hepatitis B virus infection - three U.S. cities, 2006-2018
    MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2020
  • Case report: epididymo-orchitis due to mycobacterium tuberculosis
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2019
  • Migration medicine: notes on a young science
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2018
  • Prescription drug-dispensing limits in the USA-implications for malaria chemoprophylaxis among VFR travellers
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2018
  • Guillain-Barre syndrome associated with Zika virus infection in a traveler returning from Guyana
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2016
  • Partnerships that facilitate a refugee's journey to wellbeing
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2016
  • Chikungunya: acute fever, rash and debilitating arthralgias in a returning traveler from Haiti
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2014
  • Culturally competent cancer screening
    Minn Physician. 2014
  • Pre-exposure rabies vaccination among US international travelers: findings from the global TravEpiNet consortium
    Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 2014
  • Effect of country of origin, age, and body mass index on prevalence of vitamin d deficiency in a US immigrant and refugee population
    Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2013
  • Lost in translation: a simple lesson about our emergency system might have saved a life
    Minnesota Medicine. 2013
  • Spectrum of illness in international migrants seen at GeoSentinel clinics in 1997-2009, part 1: US-bound migrants evaluated by comprehensive protocol-based health assessment
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2013
  • Spectrum of illness in international migrants seen at GeoSentinel clinics in 1997-2009, part 2: migrants resettled internationally and evaluated for specific health concerns
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2013
  • Characteristics and spectrum of disease among ill returned travelers from pre- and post-earthquake Haiti: the GeoSentinel experience
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2012
  • Global TravEpiNet: a national consortium of clinics providing care to international travelers--analysis of demographic characteristics, travel destinations, and pretravel healthcare of high-risk US international travelers, 2009-2011
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2012
  • Colleague interview: a conversation with Patricia F. Walker, MD, DTM&H
    MetroDoctors. 2011
  • Impact of global health residency training on medical knowledge of immigrant health
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2011
  • Practising medicine in the global village: use of guidelines and virtual networks
    CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2011
  • Vitamin B12 deficiency in resettled Bhutanese refugees--United States, 2008-2011
    MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2011
  • A surveillance source of tobacco use differences among immigrant populations
    Nicotine & tobacco research. 2010
  • Disparities in tobacco cessation medication orders and fills among special populations
    Nicotine & tobacco research. 2010
  • Illness in children after international travel: analysis from the GeoSentinel surveillance network
    Pediatrics. 2010
  • Neglected tropical disease: challenges, progress, and hope
    Minnesota Medicine. 2008
  • Role of immigrants and migrants in emerging infectious diseases
    Medical Clinics of North America. 2008
  • Seasonality, annual trends, and characteristics of dengue among ill returned travelers, 1997-2006
    Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2008
  • Tobacco-use prevalence in special populations taking advantage of electronic medical records
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2008
  • Maltreatment of strongyloides infection: case series and worldwide physicians-in-training survey
    American Journal of Medicine. 2007
  • Medical problems in returning travelers
    Audio-Digest Fam Pract. 2007
  • Medical problems in returning travelers
    Audio-Digest Fam Pract. 2007
  • When global is local: the culturally competent organization
    Creative Nursing. 2007
  • When the market fails, the poor pay
    Minnesota Medicine. 2007
  • When the market fails, the poor pay
    Minnesota Medicine. 2007
  • Strongyloides hyperinfection presenting as acute respiratory failure and gram-negative sepsis
    Chest. 2005
  • Biliary liver flukes (Opisthorchiasis and Clonorchiasis) in immigrants in the United States: often subtle and diagnosed years after arrival
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2004
  • Travel medicine considerations for North American immigrants visiting friends and relatives
    JAMA. 2004
  • Cutaneous tuberculosis in three HIV-infected patients
    Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. 2000
  • Predominance of slow acetylators of N-acetyltransferase in a Hmong population residing in the United States
    Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 1996
  • Comparison of the prevalence of the poor metabolizer phenotype for CYP2D6 between 203 Hmong subjects and 280 white subjects residing in Minnesota
    Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 1995
  • Health care of Indochinese refugees
    Minnesota Medicine. 1984
  • Care of Cambodian refugees
    JAMA. 1980
  • Editorial Article
  • Language justice: addressing linguistic disparities begins with language data collection [editorial]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  109. 2023
  • Clara Southmayd Ludlow: her thirst for knowledge was positively inspirational: honoring a female giant in tropical medicine [editorial]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  97. 2017
  • Evidence-based policies on migration and global health are essential to maintain the health of those inside and outside the United States [editorial]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  96. 2017
  • Executive order on refugees: here's what I know about the most vetted people around [editorial]
    2017
  • Let's eliminate diseases, not institutes: the case for the Fogarty International Center [editorial]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  97. 2017
  • The (International) American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene [editorial]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  95. 2016
  • Pre-travel consultation and hepatitis B: a double opportunity for preventing infection in at-risk patients and life-threatening complications in HBV carriers [editorial]
    Journal of Travel Medicine.  20. 2013
  • Migrants, detainees, and misconceptions [editorial]
    Lancet (London, England).  373. 2009
  • Hypereosinophilic syndrome and mepolizumab [editorial]
    New England Journal of Medicine.  358. 2008
  • Eosinophilia in refugees [editorial]
    Clinical Infectious Diseases.  42. 2006
  • Preventive health care in a multicultural society: are we culturally competent [editorial]?
    Mayo Clinic Proceedings.  71. 1996
  • Chapter
  • Healthcare for adult immigrants and refugees
    UpToDate. 2015
  • Arrival in the United States: health status and screening of refugees, immigrants, and international adoptees. Health considerations for newly arrived immigrants and refugees
    CDC Health information for international travelers 2014: the Yellow Book. 2014
  • After arrival in the United States: recommendations for screening and immunizations of new immigrants and refugees
    CDC Health information for international travel: the Yellow Book 2010. 2010
  • An introduction to the field of refugee and immigrant healthcare
    Immigrant Medicine. 2007
  • Preventive healthcare and management of chronic diseases in adults
    Immigrant Medicine. 2007
  • Conference Poster
  • Transplantation and immigration: comparing infectious complications between foreign-born vs. U.S.-born kidney transplant recipients in Minnesota [poster]
    2020
  • Assessment of monitoring practices for newly arrived refugees with chronic hepatitis b - Minnesota 2008-2017 [poster]
    2018
  • Things to come? Fever, rash, and arthralgias in a traveler returning from Haiti [poster]
    2015
  • Things to come? Fever, rash, and arthralgias in a traveler returning from Haiti [poster]
    2014
  • Speak no evil, see no evil: a diagnostic dilemma in a Somali immigrant [poster]
    2013
  • Utilizing continuing medical education to subsidize global health education: a Robin Hood model [poster]
    2013
  • An innovative approach to improve hepatitis b screening rates in immigrant populations: the Global Health Wizard [poster]
    2012
  • Prevalence of vitamin d deficiency in Minnesota immigrants and refugees [poster]
    2011
  • Prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Hmong refugees from Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand [poster]
    2007
  • Review
  • Where was my patient born? The Intersection of tropical medicine and migrant health [review]
    Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. 2021
  • Screening of international immigrants, refugees, and adoptees [review]
    Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice. 2002
  • Refugee and immigrant health care [review]
    Medical Clinics of North America. 1999
  • Audio Document
  • Looking back at 2017 with ASTMH past president Patricia Walker: political challenges remind her that “optimism is a moral imperative” [interview]
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2018
  • Health care for new Americans. Blending traditional and Western medicine [interview]
    Minnesota Medicine. 1992
  • Book
  • Immigrant medicine
    2007
  • presentations
    Presentation
  • Addressing health disparities in migrant populations: beyond access to health care [presentation], Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM)
  • Asian clinical tropical medicine [presentation]
  • Best practices in managing migrant health [presentation], Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM)
  • Cambodian refugees [presentation], University of Minnesota Global Health Course
  • Chronic diseases in Hmong refugees from Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand [presentation], HealthPartners Celebration of Research Annual Conference
  • Components of graduate medical training associated with improved global health knowledge [presentation], American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) 61st Annual Meeting
  • Cross cultural health care [presentation], Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Meeting
  • Displaced persons and the diseases that follow [presentation], IDWeek 2016
  • Emerging stealth infections in refugees and immigrants [presentation], African Refugee Health Best Practices Conference
  • Essentials of running a global health center, sharing programs from all stages [presentation], Albert Einstein College of Medicine Global Health Conference
  • Ethical conundrums in refugee health [presentation], North American Refugee Health Conference
  • Factors influencing emerging infectious diseases in the southeastern United States [presentation], Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT) Symposium
  • Fever after travel [presentation], University of Minnesota Global Health Course
  • Global health threats [presentation], GHIT Conference 2016
  • Globally mobile populations: the Minnesota perspective [presentation], Minnesota Academy of Medicine Meeting
  • Honoring choices across cultures: teaching interprofessional and multicultural approaches to advance care planning and end-of-life care [presentation], Collaborating Across Borders V (CAB V) Conference
  • How to avoid being lost in translation: best practices in cross cultural communication [presentation], Taste of Tropical Medicine
  • Impressions from a trip to Myanmar [presentation], University of Minnesota Tropical and Travel Medicine Seminar
  • Infectious disease challenge in immigrant populations [presentation], Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Conference
  • Infectious diseases in immigrant patients: common concerns [presentation], Infectious Disease Update
  • Liver flukes in a Karen refugee [presentation], Congress of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM14)
  • Medical education in refugee health: translating knowledge into action [presentation], North American Refugee Healthcare Conference
  • Medical education in the global village: health care providers need the proper tools to successfully care for globally mobile populations [presentation], University of Minnesota Global Health Education Conference
  • Migration medicine: notes on a young science [presidential address], ASTMH (American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene) 66th Annual Meeting
  • Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning: clinical case [presentation], Global Health Course, University of Minnesota
  • Non-schistosomiasis fluke infection [presentation], Global Health Course, University of Minnesota
  • Post-migration screening of immigrants and refugees [presentation], American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting
  • Practicing medicine in the global village: our response as educators and clinicians. Refugee health screening guidelines [presentation], Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) 33rd Annual Meeting
  • Preparation for international travel [presentation], Boston Scientific
  • Providing high-quality primary care to refugees and immigrants--cancer screening in immigrants: case studies [presentation], Global Health Course, University of Minnesota
  • Refugee and immigrant health care 2011 update [presentation], HealthPartners Center for International Health and Travel Medicine Clinics
  • Refugee and immigrant health care--where have we been and where are we going [presentation]?, ASTMH (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene) Latin America
  • Refugee and immigrant health care: practicing medicine in the global village [presentation], University of Minnesota School of Public Health (Epidemiology & Community Health)
  • Refugee health [presentation], Emerging Infections Conference
  • The (International) American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene: advocacy in action [presentation], ASTMH (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene) Latin America
  • The global is local: medical education in a global village [presentation], Global Health Conference
  • The ill returnee from Latin America [presentation], International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID)/International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) 14th Annual Meeting
  • What's new in immigrant health [presentation], University of Minnesota Tropical and Travel Medicine Seminar
  • Contact
    full name
  • Patricia F. Walker, MD, DTM&H, FASTMH
  • primary email
  • Patricia.F.Walker@HealthPartners.Com
  • Quick Info
    Publications
    Publications in the past 10 years based solely on publications while at HealthPartners. Publications in prior years appear in grey.
    Collaboration
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