Dr. Penberthy attended Wake Forest University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology. She obtained a master’s degree in experimental psychology from Wake Forest University in 1992. Dr. Penberthy collaborated in research conducted at the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Alcohol Studies, in the Medical School, and then at the Cancer Research Center at Duke University. She then completed her Ph.D. in Clinical psychology at VCU in Richmond , VA , working under the mentorship of Dr. Jim McCullough, the developer of CBASP, a proven effective treatment for chronic depression. She is still involved in CBASP research and education, and is on the national faculty for the CBASP National Training Program, Inc., which conducts national and international training for clinicians and physicians.

Dr. Penberthy completed her internship in clinical psychology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk , VA where she worked with Dr. Barbara Cubic, a trainee of Dr. A.T. Beck. Dr. Penberthy focused on CBT for eating disorders and had a concentration in Neuropsychology. She then completed her post-doctoral fellowship at UVA in the Department of Psychiatric Medicine in the Behavioral Medicine Center , where she collaborated on research regarding diabetes management and pediatric bowel disorders. She collaborated with the Digestive Center of Excellence to establish psychosocial patient care for those with GI disorders. In addition, she conducted independent research on the diagnosis of ADHD and has patented technology to effectively diagnose ADHD using a mathematical combination of EEG  and psychological data.

Dr. Penberthy was appointed Assistant Professor in 2001 and has remained on faculty at UVA. Dr. Penberthy currently has funding in ADHD research through the Carilion Biomedical Institute and was awarded a Young Investigator Award for Funding in Excellence in Science and Techology (FEST) for her ADHD research. She is also currently funded through the General Medical Education Innovations Grant for research investigating the assessment and training of  interpersonal and communication skills of resident physicians and the impact of these skills on patient satisfaction and outcome. Dr. Penberthy spends a majority of her research time as the clinical psychologist at the UVA CARE clinic, where she is mentored by Prof. Bankole Johnson and focuses her research on the placebo effects in clinical research as well as the learning curve and dose effects of CBT.  In addition, she provides CBT and assessment for addiction studies, and supervises two clinical psychology fellows as well as fourth year psychiatric medicine residents. She is also involved in smoking prevention research under the mentoring of Dr. Ming Li.  This research focuses on using CBT techniques to prevent smoking behavior in young adolescents.  Dr. Penberthy also teaches CBT and Interpersonal and Communication Skills and therapy to the psychiatric medicine residents, and spends time supervising PGYIII residents at the Outpatient Clinic at Northridge. She teaches CBT to child psychiatry fellows, teaches a small group class in Clinical Epidemiology to 2^nd year medical students at UVA, and mentors a PGYII student. Finally, Dr. Penberthy sees her own clinical patients for treatment and specializes in CBT for comorbid depression and anxiety and substance use disorders. She also specializes in CBASP for patients with chronic depression.