Dr. Ruddy is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and directs the Emphasis in Clinical Health Psychology within the Department. Dr. Ruddy has been a proponent of the integration of behavioral health into primary care throughout her career as an educator, consultant, and advocate. Her commitment to integrated behavioral health reflects her belief that it improves health and mental health outcomes, facilitates whole person care, and improves access to behavioral health services. Dr. Ruddy has actively supported the emergence of this new field by collaborating with others to develop curricula for medical and behavioral health students and clinicians, and actively developing training opportunities for psychologists to work in primary care during their training. In addition, she has helped develop and disseminate best practices in integrated behavioral health implementation. She is excited to join Antioch’s Clinical Psychology Department, which is at the forefront of integrated primary care training.

Dr. Ruddy has spent most of her career in medical education, primarily as a faculty member in Family Medicine residencies and in academic health centers and community hospitals. Her faculty roles have focused on healthcare communication, chronic disease management, development of team based care competencies, self-care and provider wellness, detection, and management of behavioral health issues, among other things. In addition, Dr. Ruddy has facilitated training program improvement efforts, most recently at Stanford Healthcare in Palo Alto, CA, where she served as an Education Specialist and Program Consultant to dozens of medical residency and fellowship programs. She has been active in various professional organizations, most recently serving as the President of the Society for Health Psychology in 2019.    Dr. Ruddy was awarded the Health Psychology Timothy B. Jeffrey Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Health Psychology in 2013, named a Fellow of the Division of Health Psychology in 2014, and awarded an APA Presidential Citation in 2016. She was the author of the 2008 APA Books publication The Collaborative Psychotherapist. Dr. Ruddy has co-written a second book, A Systemic Approach to Integrated Behavioral Healthcare, with Susan McDaniel of the University of Rochester, published by APA Books.