Kenneth Pakenham, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor of clinical and health psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, Australia. His research and clinical practice in psychology spans 40 years. Inspired by the resilience of some people with serious illnesses, he has committed much of his career to investigating the processes that foster personal growth in the context of health adversities, and to translating his findings into interventions that help people live fully with illness. Through his 170 publications, 7,000 citations of his work, 80 conference presentations, 3 research awards, 3 teaching awards and 4 million dollars of competitive grant funding, he has become a leader in the application of positive health frameworks to chronic illness, and to caregiving. His research has helped to inform government policies, particularly those related to carers, and establish interventions and assessment protocols within government and community services. His resilience training interventions have been dissemination internationally. He has supervised the postgraduate research of 60 students. His career-long commitment to ‘practice what you teach’ is epitomised in his recently published memoir The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain – Feasting on Life.
Kenneth Pakenham, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor of clinical and health psychology in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, Australia. His research and clinical practice in psychology spans 40 years. Inspired by the resilience of some people with serious illnesses, he has committed much of his career to investigating the processes that foster personal growth in the context of health adversities, and to translating his findings into interventions that help people live fully with illness. Through his 170 publications, 7,000 citations of his work, 80 conference presentations, 3 research awards, 3 teaching awards and 4 million dollars of competitive grant funding, he has become a leader in the application of positive health frameworks to chronic illness, and to caregiving. His research has helped to inform government policies, particularly those related to carers, and establish interventions and assessment protocols within government and community services. His resilience training interventions have been dissemination internationally. He has supervised the postgraduate research of 60 students. His career-long commitment to ‘practice what you teach’ is epitomised in his recently published memoir The Trauma Banquet: Eating Pain – Feasting on Life.