Amy C. Brodkey, M’75, an eminent psychiatrist, an advocate for women’s mental health services, and a former clinical associate professor of psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine, died on November 22, 2021, of heart failure. She was 72. 

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Dr. Brodkey suffered from type 1 diabetes and spent a week in a coma when she was a child. She recovered and went on to an illustrious academic career; she was a high school debate champion, then obtained an undergraduate degree from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1975. During her college years, she spoke out passionately against the war in Vietnam and took part in early International Women’s Day protests. Early in her career, she served as a family physician at Philadelphia’s Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women. After leaving the Blackwell Health Center, Dr. Brodkey established a private practice. During her entire career, she also conducted research on the conflict of interest between pharmaceutical companies and the medical field. 

In 1985, Dr. Brodkey joined the Medical College of Pennsylvania (now the Drexel University College of Medicine), where she served as director of medical student education and as a faculty member in the department of psychiatry. In 1997, she returned to Penn’s School of Medicine as a clinical associate professor of psychiatry. The next year, she was promoted to an associate clinical professor at Penn. While there, she helped write original psychiatric curriculum for medical school graduates, lectured on a variety of medical and social topics around the world, and wrote more than 30 journal articles and book chapters about psychiatry and related subjects. Dr. Brodkey left Penn in 2010 and retired in 2014 as the medical director of behavioral health at the Family Practice and Counseling Network, a group of centers that provide primary care and mental health services for residents of Philadelphia housing projects.

She is survived by her daughter, Emily (Joseph Hernandez); two brothers; and nieces and nephews. A private memorial service was held. Donations in Dr. Brodkey’s name may be made to Physicians for a National Health Plan, 29 E. Madison St., Suite 1412, Chicago, Ill. 60602, and the National Women’s Health Network, 1413 K Street NW, 4th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005.