Patricia A. Zapf

Zapf received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Alberta. She received both her Masters (M.A. in Clinical Psychology with specialization in Forensic Psychology) and Doctorate (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with specialization in Forensic Psychology) from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, focusing on competency to stand trial. Under the mentorship of Ronald Roesch, she completed her thesis, titled "Assessing fitness to stand trial: characteristics of fitness remands and a comparison of institution-based evaluations and the Fitness Interview Test, Revised", and her dissertation titled "An investigation of the construct of competence in a criminal and civil context: A comparison of the FIT, the MacCAT-CA, and the MacCAT-T.". She is a licensed psychologist in four states in the United States: Alabama, Florida, New York and Missouri.

Upon completion of her doctoral program, Zapf worked at the University of Alabama as an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department until 2002. She concurrently began and maintains faculty affiliate status at Simon Fraser University in their Mental Health, Law and Policy Institute. After leaving the University of Alabama, Zapf held various positions at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at The City University of New York, including Director of Clinical Training, Director of the Forensic Psychology Research Institute, Associate Professor and Professor in the Department of Psychology. From 2014 to 2015, Zapf was president of the American Psychology-Law Society. Currently, Zapf is Vice President of Business Innovation and Strategic Advancement at Palo Alto University, where she works to advance academia by implementing business strategies to strengthen academia's impact. Zapf founded CONCEPT Professional Training, a program that provides continuing education to mental health professionals, in 2009. In 2018, she brought CONCEPT to Palo Alto University.

She has worked on the board of directors for the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services, alongside having been an editor for Law and Human Behavior, the American Psychology-Law Society book series, and the International Perspectives on Forensic Mental Health book series. Zapf serves as the editor-in-chief of the APA Handbook of Forensic Psychology. Alongside traveling throughout the United States and internationally to provide training in forensic evaluation, Zapf served on the panel of experts for the National Judicial College's Mental Competency: Best Practices Model.