currently serving on the Appropriations Committee, Health Subcommittee of Appropriations,

Higher Education, Natural Resources and Transportation Committees. She serves as Co Chair of

the Women’s Legislative Caucus and the Vice Chair of the Fulton Delegation of the Georgia

General Assembly.

Pat has lived in Morningside for the past 37 years with her husband, Jerry Gardner, and they

have two children, Anita and Bradley. Prior to moving to Atlanta Pat taught high school Spanish

for eight years in California, Michigan and Virginia. A graduate of the University of Michigan,

Pat studied in Spain for a year and lived in India for another year.

Gardner became the Executive Director of the Georgia Psychological Association in 1977 until

her recent retirement and has been a tireless advocate for mental health services. As a Certified

Association Executive (CAE), she has worked in leadership positions with the Georgia

Association of Association Executives and as President of the American Psychological

Association’s Council of State Executives.

An advocate for universal access to health care initially for children, Pat has initiated efforts to

expand the current PeachCare system to make it available to every Georgia family based on their

ability to pay and more recently chaired a work group to investigate duplication in the eligibility

systems of Medicaid and PeachCare. She chaired a study committee to evaluate how to reinstate

the COLA for state retirees and another one to look at how to provide health insurance benefits

for small employers. She passed a bill requiring more recycling on Capitol Hill and sponsored

Sustainable Businesses Day at the Capitol for the 6th year in a row.

She has received commendations from the Georgia Conservation Voters , the Georgia Network

of Mental Health Consumers, the National Mental Health Association of Georgia, the

Association on Developmental Disabilities, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The

Women’s Policy Group awarded Pat their legislative award in 2004.