Dr. Ronald and Dr. Patricia Fredrickson
Dr. Ronald H. Fredrickson is the former Associate Dean and Director of the School Counselor
Education and School Psychology Programs in the UMass Amherst College of Education. Over more than
two decades, he worked to establish the programs as national models for excellence in graduate
education and to educate the next generation of university-based faculty and school based
practitioners. Dr. Patricia Fredrickson, a former high school business education teacher, is a
doctoral alumna of the College of Education. Both Ron and Pat share a commitment to attracting
excellent students to the School Counselor Education and School Psychology fields, and providing
them with high-quality training and experience. They have created this graduate scholarship in
loving memory of their son, Dr. Doren D. Fredrickson, to honor Doren’s commitment to young people,
and his life-long work as a researcher and caring practitioner.
Professor Doren D. Fredrickson, MD, PhD, was born on May 14, 1955 in Newport, Rhode Island and
passed away from natural causes on August 21, 2008 at his home in Wichita, KS. He was professor in
Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Kansas University School of
Medicine- Wichita and the Health Officer of the Sedgwick County Health Department. He also was
Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor of Public Health.
Dr. Fredrickson was gentle and kind, and a gifted, talented physician, teacher, and researcher. He
spoke Spanish fluently and was conversant in Swedish, German and French. He was a “triple threat”
in academic medicine: an outstanding clinician, a great educator, and a well-trained and respected
researcher. His concern for those who were less fortunate was well known, and he was absolutely
passionate about eliminating health disparities and correcting social inequalities.
Dr. Fredrickson received many honors and awards including the Golden Apple Teaching Award, the
Diversity of Kansas Award for Brotherhood and Sisterhood and the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for
Teaching Excellence. As a pediatrician, he was a strong advocate of mothers breast-feeding their
infants. Doren completed residencies in both Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, and was a
published researcher and epidemiologist. He had attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst,
Emporia State University, University of Kansas for his medical degree and University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill for his doctoral degree in epidemiology.
Salutation for thank you letter: Dr. Patricia Fredrickson