Vice Chair of Diversity, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health

Dr. Katharine Dalke focuses on the mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people, as well as the health of people with differences of sex development.

As the director of the Office for Culturally Responsive Health Care Education, Dr. Katharine Dalke works with educators and learners throughout the College of Medicine to develop longitudinal, integrated curricula focusing on cultural competency and cultural humility, with the aim of preparing learners to care for diverse groups of patients. Dr. Dalke is also committed to ensuring that the educational setting and the approach to clinical care are collaborative, inclusive and person-centered.

Through the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Dalke is involved in bedside and classroom teaching of medical students and residents. In addition to clinical psychiatric assessment and evidence-based psychotherapy, Dr. Dalke teaches on LGBTQI and differences of sex development (DSD) mental health within the College of Medicine and around the country. She serves as the faculty adviser to the Psychiatry Interest Group and enjoys mentoring medical students and psychiatry trainees.

Dr. Katharine Dalke sees patients in the LGBTQ Clinic at Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Harrisburg, where she works with adolescents and adults who are LGBTQI+ or have differences of sex development (DSDs). She also co-founded and provides psychiatric care in the Gender Health Clinic at Hershey Children's Hospital. She is trained in evaluating transgender and gender-diverse individuals, including supporting them and their families through any desired medical or surgical care, and in providing general psychiatric care for patients who are LGBTQI+ or have DSDs who wish to work with a psychiatrist familiar with sexual and gender diversity. Dr. Dalke is also involved in training providers across disciplines in providing culturally responsive care for LGBTQI+ patients.