Patricia A. Quinlan ’98

Patty died Sept. 18, 2023, following a brief illness complicated by COVID-19. She was 47 and passed away at Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she practiced internal medicine for 17 years.

Patty came to Princeton from Clark, N.J., where she was valedictorian of her class at Arthur L. Johnson Regional High School. She lived in Wilson College and was active in the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship, serving as its secretary. She also participated in ballroom dance. For her senior thesis in the psychology department, Patty studied rats to assess the effects of antidepressants and appetite suppressants on cocaine addiction.

Upon graduation, she continued to Baylor University to earn a doctorate in psychology and then to San Antonio, where she earned her medical doctorate from the University of Texas. Among many life-saving medical interventions over her career, Patty earned headlines in 2015 for stabilizing an incapacitated airline passenger using the plane’s medical equipment and her own hair tie as a tourniquet for intravenous fluid administration.

Patty is survived by her three younger brothers; three teenage daughters, Madelyn, Amanda, and Molly; and their father, Darren Smith. The class sends its condolences to them and Patty’s college friends.