Patricia Sellick has been serving as the Regional Director for the Middle East for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) since 2009. Her connection with the Middle East began in 1987 when she served as a volunteer with the British Friends agency,  Quaker Peace and Service. She was based for two years in Hebron, in the occupied Palestinian territories, at the time of the first Palestinian intifada.

Since then Patricia has worked for a range of human rights and development agencies, often in areas beset by violent conflict. She has lived and worked in  the Middle East, Central Asia and also Eastern Africa. She has a life-long interest in the way in which war adversely affects the chances of young people. This was the subject of her PhD research in the department of Peace Studies, Bradford University, UK.