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Joshua E. Palmer

DNP, PMHNP-BC, RN
Coordinator, 2nd Degree Accelerated (ABSN) Program
Assistant Professor
Health & Community Systems

Profile

Dr. Joshua Palmer is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP-BC) with over 25 years of experience in psychiatric nursing across inpatient, community-based, and integrated care settings. His clinical expertise centers on the care of individuals with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI), treatment-resistant depression, and co-occurring substance use disorders. He has specialized experience in interventional psychiatric treatments, including esketamine, clozapine, and long-acting injectables.

Dr. Palmer currently practices at P.K. Mullick and Associates, where he provides outpatient psychiatric care across a broad diagnostic spectrum, with a specific focus on esketamine treatments, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, mood disorders, and substance use. He also serves as the psychiatric provider at Associates in Family Healthcare, a community-based primary care clinic where he collaborates within an integrated model to address both physical and mental health needs in underserved populations.

Teaching

Dr. Palmer teaches across undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. At the undergraduate level, he provides both didactic and clinical instruction for Nursing Care of Clients with Psychiatric Mental Health Problems. At the graduate level, he teaches Neurobiology of Psychiatric Disorders, Psychopharmacology, Psychiatric Diagnosis, and Management of Acute and Chronic Psychiatric Conditions, and serves as clinical faculty for multiple graduate-level psychiatric nursing courses. He also precepts PMHNP students at all of his clinical practice sites.

His teaching emphasizes recovery-oriented, person-centered care and is grounded in preparing students to manage clinical complexity through sound judgment, practical skill development, and evidence-based reasoning. Dr. Palmer regularly integrates current research into his courses, including advances in neuromodulation, emerging pharmacologic targets, and evolving neurobiological models of mental illness. He uses interactive tools like Top Hat and Kahoot to support active learning and is actively exploring the role of artificial intelligence in nursing education, including its applications for simulation, adaptive learning, and clinical decision support.

Service

Dr. Palmer serves as the Coordinator of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, where he supports curriculum planning, student advising, and program development. He is a member of the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh PMHNP Nurse Residency Advisory Board, contributing to the advancement of postgraduate psychiatric nursing education and the integration of evidence-based practice in mental health care. Dr. Palmer also serves on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (AHEC), supporting initiatives to expand healthcare access and workforce development in medically underserved communities.

He is an active member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (PCNP), and the Nurse Practitioner Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania (NPASP). His service reflects a strong commitment to advancing psychiatric nursing education, mentorship, and interdisciplinary collaboration to strengthen the mental health workforce.