COL Kathy Platoni, Psy.D

Katherine Theresa Platoni, Psy.D.

Colonel, Medical Service Corps, United States Army Reserve

Army Reserve Psychology Consultant to the Chief, Medical Service Corp

Chair- AIS Combat Stress Board

Fellow- Ohio

Kathy Platoni, Psy.D. has been a practicing clinical psychologist for 29 years and maintained her private practice in Centerville, Ohio until the time of her fourth voluntary deployment to active duty Army status in October of 2009. She served as commander of the 1972nd Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) at Guantanamo Bay Cuba from 2003-2004, where combat stress control became a critical element of the Joint Task Force mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Global War on Terrorism. Having volunteered to return to active duty within weeks of her redeployment from Joint Task Force-GTMO, Dr. Platoni deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, holding the position of Deputy Commander of Clinical Services for the 55th Medical Company (CSC) in Baghdad and seven subsequent locations, finally as Officer in Charge of Team Ar Ramadi, situated the seat of the insurgency and during times of intensive combat. At the invitation of the 3rd Brigade Commander, 3rd Infantry Division upon the conclusion of her tour of duty in the wartime theater, Dr. Platoni reported to the Home of the Infantry, Fort Benning, Georgia for an additional six month mission in order to provide for the reintegration services of the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment due to elevated numbers of psychological casualties among combat arms soldiers. Dr. Platoni was last deployed to the combat theater of Afghanistan from 2009 through late 2010 with the 467th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving as Clinical Advisor for the medical detachment and Officer in Charge of TeamWilson, Kandahar Province, and Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dr. Platoni is a graduate of the School of Professional Psychology of Nova University (now Nova Southeastern University) in Davie,Florida. Subsequent to the conclusion of her doctoral studies under the auspices of the United States Army’s Health Professionals Scholarship Program, she completed her internship on active duty Army status at William Beaumont Army Medica lCenterin El Paso, Texas in 1984. From 1984 through 1987, she served as Chief of Psychology at DeWitt Army Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir,Virginia. During her 32 years of both active and Army Reserve status, including a six month tour of duty during Operation Desert Storm, Dr. Platoni developed combat stress control, debriefings and crisis management programs utilized throughout the U.S. Army. As a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College, she holds the rank of Colonel and is presently assigned to the 1493rd MED DET (CSC) in Cary, NC. Dr. Platoni holds an appointment to the position of Army Reserve Clinical Psychology Consultant to the Chief, Medical Service Corp.

Dr. Platoni also maintains appointments as Assistant Clinical Professor with the School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University. She is a skilled hypnotherapist and possesses expertise in the sub-specialty areas of behavioral medicine and the treatment of chronic pain and chronic, debilitating, and terminal illnesses. Due to her father’s exposure to radiation during the bombing of Nagasaki during World War II, she was born with congenital defects that have required extensive maxillofacial (bone) reconstructive and bone grafting procedures. No stranger to chronic pain herself, Dr. Platoni has undergone 58 major and minor surgeries over the course of the last 24 years to correct these defects, 18 of them with hypnosis as the sole anesthetic. Her last major plastic surgery was featured in a segment of ABC News “20/20” in 1999. She is in the process of completing a series of scholarly articles on this subject and has also published in a number of professional and lay journals on topics relating to Gulf War Syndrome, the psychological aftermath of the events of “9/11”, and professional/medical ethics. Two books written and edited by Dr. Raymond Scurfield and Dr. Platoni on the subject of war trauma will be published in 2012. She was awarded Diplomate status by the American Academy of Pain Management, was recently appointed Fellow of the American Institute of Stress, and holds professional memberships in the American Psychological Association, Ohio Psychological Association, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.

Since the “9/11” tragedy and attacks on the United States, Dr. Platoni also voluntarily deployed to New York City on two occasions in order to provide disaster mental health and critical incident stress debriefing services to members of the New York City Police Department. For her professional contributions to the field of psychology and many years of humanitarian service, she was awarded a lifetime achievement award by her alma mater,Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in 2008.