Fitzpatrick received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Neurology from Cornell University Medical College(1984) and pursued post-doctoral training with in vivo NMR spectroscopic studies of brainmetabolism/function in the Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics at Yale University.

Fitzpatrick served as the Associate Executive Director of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis (1989-1992), a comprehensive basic science and applied science research center focused on restoringneurological function to persons with spinal cord injury. Her responsibilities included all publicoutreach and educational efforts and she served as the scientific liaison to the development,fundraising, and public relations staff. As Executive Director of the Brain Trauma Foundation (1992-1993), Fitzpatrick guided the Foundation through a re-organization and is now a leader in advancingthe care of patients with traumatic brain injury. Fitzpatrick joined the James S. McDonnell Foundationin 1993 as the Foundation’s first Program Officer. She was promoted to Program Director in 1997, toVice President in 2000, and to President in 2015. Fitzpatrick is an adjunct associate professor ofNeuroscience and Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis) andteaches neuroscience in both lectures and seminars and is a voluntary faculty at the Center forBiology and Society, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University. Fitzpatrick is an elected Fellowof the Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Association for Women in Science. Fitzpatrick lectures and writes onissues concerning applications of neuroscience to clinical problems, the translation of cognitive science to educational settings, the roleof private philanthropy in the support of scientific research, and on issues related to the public dissemination of and understanding ofscience.

Fitzpatrick serves on the boards of the Ontario Brain Institute, One Health Trust, OpenBoxScience.org and is a member of the ScienceBoard of the Santa Fe Institute. Fitzpatrick serves as an advisor to the Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Simon FraserUniversity, the Koch Center for Family Enterprise at Washington University and Grai Matter. Fitzpatrick is a past member of the board ofthe American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, Research!America, theMissouri Science and Technology Fellows Program, and is a Past-President and former Chair of the Board of the Association forWomen in Science. Fitzpatrick has served as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Rotman Institute for Philosophy atWestern University, Ontario, Canada.