Nana Dr. Patricia Ann Newton Akosua Akyaa traveled throughout life with giant strides that would make Paul Bunyan proud.

 

Born Patricia Ann Newton, August 11, 1945, she was an internationally acclaimed psychiatrist, leader, scholar, lecturer, published author, pioneer, and traditional Ghanaian Royal. She was the daughter of Dr. McKinley and Bernice Newton of Tuckerman, AR. 

At the age of 40, this Baltimore psychiatrist had already packed more into her career than most people would by retirement. She would say, " I knew when I was 8 that I wanted to go into medicine. They gave me a nurses cap, but I didn't want that. I wanted a black bag with a stethoscope in it."

None of her progress would surprise those who knew her as the spirited high-achieving, determined and somewhat unorthodox daughter of scholar-educators in her native Tuckerman, AR. After all, this woman who as a child broke a gift doll because she preferred cowboy guns. This diminutive doctor-to-be won a third-degree black belt in karate, enjoyed participating in weight lifting and aerobics, excelled in Spanish and piano, hated math, played basketball as a 5'2" forward, and became the only pre-med member of the school touring choir and refused to leave that group, even though a faculty member worried that she was trying to do too much.

Always an excellent student, she graduated from high school at 15 --just as her mother, then living in St. Louis, had done. Before entering medical school, she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Pre-Medicine from the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff, was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and graduated magna cum laude from George Peabody College of Vanderbuilt University (Nashville, TN) with her Master's in Molecular Biology. And while still in school completing her Master's degree, she worked as a microbiologist for the State of Tennessee.

Her time off was short lived because she moved on and completed her medical school education at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) and her psychiatric training at the same institution. She became a resident in psychiatry, then chief resident and instructor in clinical psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.
This was not her original plan to become a psychiatrist. Dr. Patricia Ann Newton was studying to become a surgeon and had even spent time during part of her medical residency in Mexico City, Mexico curating her craft of becoming a surgeon, when during her last year of her residency, two of her nurturing mentors, Dr. Frances Welsing and Dr. Ayce Gullatee, guided her to the field of psychiatry.

Her next and final stop was Baltimore, Maryland, where she earned a second Masters, this one from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She served on the academic faculty for over sixteen years at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine while becoming the first female chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry at Provident Hospital. As Psychiatry-in-Chief she instituted pioneer programs for the rehabilitation of the chronically mentally ill. She spearheaded the hospital's sponsorship, together with the National Institute of Mental Health, of the first Baltimore International Congress of Transcultural Psychiatry. The Congress brought exchange scientists from all over the world; more that 600 participants from 25 nations. 

Dr. Patricia A. Newton resigned the hospital post to concentrate on her other professional interests but she remained an innovative leader in the mental health area. As President and Medical Director of Behavioral Medicine Associates, Inc. in Baltimore, she was the editor of that organization's health information and educational service, was on the faculty of John Hopkins University as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, founded and was the president and Medical Director of Newton & Associates and President of Newton-Thoth, Inc., an international behavioral science management consultant firm and International Meeting Planners. Most notably, she revitalized the Black Psychiatrists of America (BP A) in Maryland. She later served as President before becoming the CEO & Medical Director on its Council of Elders and through her writings, appearances and community outreach programs (coupled with her international collaborations) Dr. Patricia A. Newton redefined how one relates and understands what it means to be Black today. She strongly believed as an African-centered psychiatrist, that psychiatry and psychology played pivotal roles in the environment and chemical origins of trauma in Black people.

Her clinical psychiatry concentrated on the effects of medical electrical acupuncture in stress management and in chronic pain as well as key focus involving anxiety disorders with special emphasis on PTSD, depression, chronic mental illness, and transcultural psychiatry encompassing the interface of Western and Traditional African healing systems. One of Dr. Newton's focus on "Post Traumatic Slave Disorder" has been outlined in her 4th publication titled "Drama of The Trauma" which will be published in 2021.
Dr. P.A. Newton was enstooled as both a Queen Mother and female King (Divisional Chief in the Ashanti Region) in Ghana, West Africa, where she received the traditional name Nana Dr. Akosua Akyaa. She was given full rights and entitlements that this position holds as an Ashanti Royal in the kingdom of Agogo.

Honor has followed closely on the heels of Dr. Newton's achievements. She was appointed to the Governor's Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease in Maryland and to the State Advisory Council on Mental Hygiene. Several magazines, including Essence Magazines and other publications cited her as "Woman of the Year in Health and Medicine", Baltimore Magazine's 100 Most Influential Women in Baltimore" and Towson State University's State University's "Distinguished Black Marylanders." These many citations honored her as a Black woman who made outstanding contributions to American Society both domestically and internationally as a transcultural psychiatrist interfacing with Western and Traditional African healing systems. She was one of the first American Psychiatric Association APA/NIMH Fellows as a psychiatric resident that was permitted to attend the inaugural meeting of the BP A's Transcultural Psychiatry Conference in Haiti in 1979. She held memberships in numerous organizations and has pioneered work with traditional healers in Africa and Brazil. She worked internationally with psychiatrists and other health care providers in Africa, South America, the Caribbean as well as here in the USA, pioneering techniques for the chronic mentally ill and cultural competency relative to culturally competent mental health delivery globally in HIV/AIDS. Her innovations included culturally competent holistic treatment in chemical dependency and prevention, and had her work embraced internationally in Africa, the Caribbean, and in Great Britain with a community-based clinic named in her honor there.

Dr. Newton is a past Distinguished Andrea Delgado, M.D. Memorial Lecturer for Black Psychiatrists of America, and had been the recipient of both BPA's Isaac Slaughter, M.D. Memorial Award for "Outstanding Leadership" and the Lloyd Elam, M.D., Memorial Award for "Lifetime Achievement". Beyond these roles and accomplishments, her legacy had grown into a resource for thought leadership and African Sacred Science in Black psychiatry.

Preceding her death are her parents, Dr. Mckinley and Mrs. Bernice Newton. She leaves behind to cherish her amazing life and memory, her Uncle Conway C. Newton (Johnnie) Chicago, IL; Aunt Helen Garner (Camden, AR); Aunt Hazel Newton (Little Rock, AR) and a host of cousins, dear colleagues, friends and students that all could be considered family.