Joyce Patton

Joyce Patton is a member of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church in New Haven, CT. She is a graduate of Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC, where she received a BA in elementary education and has completed further studies at Winthrop College and Southern CT State University. She is a retired educator from the New Haven Public School System. She serves as the secretary of the Bureau of Overseas Supplies, which provides supplies to disaster-stricken areas and to the homeless, victims of domestic violence, children of prisoners, and people living with HIV and AIDS. She is a member of the Heritage Chorale as well as the Varick Voices of Victory.

Through her work as a Cultural Ambassador, Ms. Patton has learned about treatment for addiction, heart disease, and cancer and has become aware of how people in underserved communities do not trust clinical trials. Through her work in the church, she has offered support and encouragement to those she comes in contact with to be open to trials that may be helpful to them and their families.