2019 Annual Conference Program and Speakers

Deb Adler, MA, CPHQ

President, Transformation Health Resources, LLC

Presentation: Professional Affairs and Information Committee (PAIC) Seminar: Navigating Value-Based Care 
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 11:15 AM-12:45 PM

President, Transformation Health Resources, LLC—has more nearly 25 years’ experience in executive health care roles, serving in a variety of capacities at national managed care organizations including network executive, quality management executive and chief operating officer. Deb was the SVP for Network Strategy at Optum for 9 years through early 2018 where she first gained an interest and understanding of neuropsychologist needs and contributions. She has been an advocate of the National Academy of Neuropsychology since her introduction to the Professional Affairs Committee in 2010 and is currently assisting the PAIC in forging relationships across key national payers.Deb began her career in health care quality and is a recognized leader in value-based contracting and alternative payment models. She has broad experience and keen understanding of the unique customer requirements across all lines of business—Commercial Employers, Health Plans, Medicare, Medicaid, Military/Veterans. As an independent consultant, her support spans a broad range of customers (provider organizations, payers, government programs and private equity firms) and topics including: collaborative care models/medical behavioral Integration, provider network functions, and reimbursement strategies.

Beth C. Arredondo, PhD, ABPP-CN

Ochsner Health System

Presentation: Beyond RVUs – Expanding Neuropsychology’s Role in Patient Care and Getting off the Productivity Treadmill
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM- 2:00 PM

Dr. Beth Arredondo is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology. She completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. She completed a general internship and postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. For five years post-training, Dr. Arredondo directed the Division of Behavioral Medicine at Western State Hospital in Staunton, VA and maintained part-time positions at the Forensic Clinic of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy and Valley MedPsych. Dr. Arredondo joined the Ochsner team in 2017 and is actively engaged in clinical work, forensic work, and research. She is actively involved in professional service, with current service positions in national neuropsychology and forensic psychology organizations.

Christopher M. Bailey, PhD

Director, UH Sports Medicine Concussion Center | Director, Concussion Program, Neurological Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Presentation: Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs:  Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

Dr. Bailey is a neuropsychologist and an Associate Professor of Neurology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He also serves as the Director of the UH Sports Medicine Concussion Center and the Director of the Concussion Program for the Neurological Institute at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Dr. Bailey is also the founding Director of the Adult Neuropsychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. He completed his graduate training at Penn State University before completing an internship in neuropsychology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and serving as the chief fellow in neuropsychology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. At University Hospitals in Cleveland, Dr. Bailey has worked collaboratively with multiple departments and specialties to update, integrate, and standardize concussion management services across a large hospital system, including developing a network of multidisciplinary concussion specialists with the goal of improving concussion identification and management on and off the sports field. Clinically, he has assisted in the neuropsychological management of concussion in all contexts, including work at all levels of sport. His current clinical roles include being the neuropsychological consultant to the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Monsters, as well as assisting in the management of sports concussion at multiple colleges/universities, high schools, and youth sport organizations in northeast Ohio. Dr. Bailey is active in several national neuropsychology organizations, including being a board member and fellow of the Sports Neuropsychology Society. He regularly makes invited addresses and is the principle investigator on several research projects focused on advancing our understanding of how to facilitate clinical recovery following sports concussion, through both a fuller understanding of how to objectively identify the injury as well as to better understand the effectiveness of clinical interventions with concussed athletes.

Scott D. Bender, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Science, University of Virginia

Presentation: Contemporary Ethical Considerations in Forensic Neuropsychology: Practical Perspectives from a Neuropsychologist and a Lawyer
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

Scott D. Bender is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist (ABPP-CN) and is Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Science at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of North Texas where he began his studies of malingering detection under the mentorship of Richard Rogers, Ph.D. After completing his internship in clinical neuropsychology at Yale School of Medicine in 2000, Dr. Bender completed his postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology in the department of Neurology at the University of Virginia. He joined the UVA department of Psychiatry faculty in 2002 and has been with the Department’s Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy since 2005. His primary duties include conducting clinical and forensic neuropsychological evaluations, teaching, and publishing manuscripts. His areas of research involve differential diagnosis of malingering and the effects of traumatic brain injury (particularly mild TBI) on neurocognitive and emotional functioning. He has authored multiple published manuscripts, articles, and chapters in these areas, and recently co-edited the 4th edition of Clinical Assessment of Malingering and Deception.

Sharona Ben-Haim, MD

Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of California, San Diego

Presentation: Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs:  Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

Sharona Ben-Haim, MD, is a neurosurgeon who specializes in caring for people with treatment-resistant epilepsy, chronic pain including facial pain and trigeminal neuralgia, spasticity, and movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and essential tremor. She is an expert in leading-edge surgical epilepsy treatments, including selective temporal lobectomies, responsive neurostimulation, and MRI-guided laser induced interstitial thermotherapy (laser ablation) for treatment-resistant epilepsy as well as gamma knife radiosurgery. Dr. Ben-Haim’s research is focused on novel tools that will help localize and treat epileptic seizures more selectively using minimally invasive techniques. Dr. Ben-Haim’s work in movement disorders and improvements in technique for deep-brain stimulation insertion has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including European Spine Journal, Neurosurgery, Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, World Neurosurgery, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Neuropathology, and Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. In 2014, she authored a book chapter for Textbook of Cortical Brain Stimulation. Dr. Ben-Haim has been invited to present nationally on topics including risk factors for hemorrhage during deep brain stimulation and occupational hazards in neurosurgical training. She also serves as a neurotrauma consultant to the NFL. She completed a fellowship in epilepsy and functional surgery at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and was a visiting fellow in functional neurosurgery at University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Dr. Ben-Haim completed residency training in neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. She earned her medical degree from UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Robert M. Bilder, PhD, ABPP-CN

Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience

Presentation: Neuropsychology in Transition: Where is the Curve Heading, and How Do We Get There from Here?
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Robert Bilder is the Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Chief of Psychology at UCLA’s Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and Director of the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity. His research has focused on the links between brain and behavior, using tools spanning genetics, neuropsychopharmacology, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, cognitive, symptomatic, and syndromal assessments of human behavior. He is interested in studying dimensions of brain function to help eliminate artificial boundaries between mental illnesses, between health and disease, and between the brain mechanisms involved in exceptional and everyday creativity. To advance these goals for clinical neuropsychology, he serves as overall project director for the National Neuropsychology Network, and NIMH-sponsored multi-site program that aims to establish infrastructure for neuropsychology clinics to gather common data elements and deposit item-level data from clinical assessments into the NIMH Data Archive. He also directs the Mind Well pod within UCLA’s Healthy Campus Initiative to concentrate on how we can support resilience, well-being and creative achievement at UCLA and beyond.

Donna K. Broshek, PhD, ABPP-CN 

Director, Neurocognitive Assessment Lab & Chief of Psychological Services, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine

Presentation: Hot Topics in Traumatic Brain Injury
Date:Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Dr. Broshek is the John Edward Fowler Professor at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine and she is board certified in clinical neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. Her primary appointment is in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, where she is Director of the Neurocognitive Assessment Lab and Chief of Psychological Services. She is also Director of the Brain Injury and Sports Concussion Center within the UVA Brain Institute. Clinically, Dr. Broshek sees a large volume of patients with sports concussion, mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and persisting post-concussion symptoms, as well as patients with intractable epilepsy and a variety of other neurologic and medical conditions. She is a member of the Concussion Committee for the National Basketball Association and WNBA. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Sports Neuropsychology Society, Immediate Past President of the Sports Neuropsychology Society, and a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation. She has been active in research on sports concussion and mTBI, as well as national clinical trials for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Dr. Broshek has been active at the local, regional, and national levels in promoting concussion education and safety.

Adam R. Cassidy, PhD, ABPP

Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School

Presentation: Hot Topics in Pediatric Neuropsychology
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM-10:30 AM

Adam R. Cassidy, PhD, ABPP is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist in the Center for Neuropsychology and Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cassidy is also co-Vice Chair of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative (CNOC) and is a member of the program committee for the upcoming 8th Quadrennial World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, taking place in Washington DC in 2021. As a clinician-scientist, Dr. Cassidy’s research and scholarship focuses on characterizing and promoting positive neurobehavioral and psychosocial development among children and adolescents with CHD. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Neuropsychology, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, and Child Neuropsychology, among others, and he has presented on CHD across the country. In addition to research, Dr. Cassidy is very active in clinical neuropsychological assessment and consultation with children and families affected by CHD, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology.

Alison N. Cernich, PhD 

Director, National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research/NIH

Presentation: Advances in Neuoscience and Technology: The Future of Neurorehabilitation
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM-10:30 AM

Alison Cernich, Ph.D., serves as the Director of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. She provides oversight for the portfolio of NCMRR and works within NIH to coordinate rehabilitation research. She serves on multiple interagency strategic planning committees and government oversight committees for major research initiatives in the federal government relevant to disability and rehabilitation research.

Todd Coleman, PhD

University of California, San Diego

Presentation:Using Wearable Biosensors to Dynamically Track the Relationship Between Brain Function, Visceral Signals, and Behavior: What Neuropsychologists Need to Know to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Todd P. Coleman received B.S. degrees in electrical engineering (summa cum laude), as well as computer engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Michigan. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT and received postdoctoral training at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital under Emery Brown, MD, PhD, an anesthesiologist and quantitative neuroscientist. He is currently a Professor in the Bioengineering Department at UCSD, where he directs the Neural Interaction Laboratory. Dr. Coleman’s research is very multi-disciplinary, using tools from applied probability, physiology, and bio-electronics. His work has been featured on CNN, BBC, and the New York Times. Dr. Coleman has been selected as a National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecturer, a TEDMED speaker, and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Paula Cooper, PhD

Clinical Neuropsychologist, Paula Cooper, LLC

Presentation: American Board of Professional Neuropsychology Board Certification Preparation Workshop
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM

Dr. Cooper received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Alliant International University in 2004. She completed her internship at the Sullivan Center for Children in Fresno, California with an emphasis in neuropsychology. She then completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Comprehensive MedPsych Systems in Sarasota, Florida. She became board certified by the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology (ABN) in 2011, served as Work Sample Coordinator from 2012-2014, took the position of Member at Large (2012 – 2017), and became the Chair Member of the Academy of the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology from 2013 – 2017. She is also a Past President for the Lower West Coast Chapter of the Florida Psychological Association and currently President Elect for ABN. Her areas of focus include dementia, stroke, and brain injury.

Michelle Cuevas, Ph.D

Clinical Psychologist, Kaiser Permanente-Otay Mesa Clinic

Presentation: Evolving Neuropsychological Considerations and Case Studies of Individuals who Identify as Transgender and Gender Non-Binary/Nonconforming
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Michelle Cuevas, PhD is a clinical child and adolescent psychologist for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. She is also a clinical supervisor for their APA-accredited predoctoral internship program. Her research and current clinical interests include: neuropsychological/psychodiagnostic assessment; neurodevelopmental disorders; parent training and psychoeducation; learning disabilities; diversity/multicultural issues; and evidence-based treatments. Her clinical and research experiences include: program development for regional center, bedside assessment in rehabilitation settings, consultation and assessments for the Department of Education, assessment, treatment, and program development for the Department of Developmental Services, and assessment and research in pediatric cancer survivorship through the City of Hope.

Munro Cullum, PhD, ABPP/ABCN

Professor , University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Presentation: Hot Topics: Taking Neuropsychology Out of the Office: Extending Our Practice Through Telehealth Technology
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM-3:45 PM

Dr. Cullum is Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neurological Surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He holds the Pam Blumenthal Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Psychology, serves as Vice Chair and Chief of the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, and is the Senior Neuropsychologist in the Peter O’Donnell Brain Institute at UT Southwestern. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, followed by an internship and postdoctoral residency in clinical neuropsychology at UCSD and the San Diego VA. Dr. Cullum’s research includes short and long term effects of concussion as well as risk factors and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative conditions, as well as neuropsychological applications of telehealth technology. He is the Scientific Director for the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC), is a Past-President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (APA Division 40), and is President-Elect of the Sports Neuropsychology Society.

Paul Dagum, MD, PhD

Founder and CEO, Mindstrong Health

Presentation: Innovative Applications of Technology to Detect Biomarkers of Central Nervous System Disease and to Facilitate Pre-Emptive Intervention to Prevent/Minimize Cognitive and Behavioral Comorbidities
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 4:00 PM-5:00 PM

Dr. Dagum is the Founder of Mindstrong, an Advisor to Health 2047 the American Medical Association's innovations studio, and the Head of Technology at Elementum. He has managed global R&D teams with a track record of creating and launching product in three successful venture-backed companies as founder, VP Engineering, CTO and CSO. He has delivered exceptional results through in-depth understanding of markets, implementation of successful R&D strategies, and development of strong teams. Dr. Dagum has deep industry experience leading big data, machine learning, natural language processing, and informatics R&D. Prior to his corporate career, he led NSF and NIH grants at Stanford University, published over 60 peer-review articles and book chapters in computer science and medicine, and was awarded over 20 patents. Dr. Dagum received an MSc in theoretical physics, PhD in theoretical computer science both from the University of Toronto and an MD from Stanford University where he also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship. Dr. Dagum is a product development and technology executive with a proven ability to manage global R&D teams in bioinformatics, machine learning and natural language processing. He has an impressive track record of creating and launching products, and is an effective advisor during all stages of corporate growth. Dr. Dagum is founder of Mindstrong Health, a biotechnology company solving for ways to unobtrusively, continuously and remotely measure neuropsychiatric disorders, advisor to Health 2047, and head of technology at Elementum SCM. Prior to his corporate career, Dr. Dagum led NSF- and NIH-funded research at Stanford University and published over 60 peer-review articles and book chapters on computer science and medicine. He also holds over 20 patents. He earned his MD from Stanford Medical School and his PhD in theoretical computer science from the University of Toronto.

Kristen Dams-O'Connor, Ph.D

Associate Professor, Director of Brain Injury Research, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Brain Injury Research Center

Presentation: Hot Topics in Traumatic Brain Injury
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Kristen Dams-O’Connor, Ph.D. is Director of the Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai and Associate Professor in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Neuroscience at Colgate University, a PhD at the University at Albany, doctoral training at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Dams-O’Connor’s research is focused on applying modern psychometric and statistical techniques to measure individual differences in trajectories of change over time among survivors of TBI and identifying mechanisms, risk and protective factors for post-traumatic neurodegeneration. She leads the Late Effects of TBI (LETBI) Project, a TBI brain donor program focused on characterizing the clinical phenotype and postmortem pathological signatures of post-traumatic dementia and their associations with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She is also Project Director of the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model System of care, one of 16 centers of excellence for TBI research in the United States. Her research is currently supported by federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute for Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, Department of Defense, Centers for Disease Control, and Patient Reported Outcomes Research Institute. She has published over 90 peer-reviewed manuscripts and chapters on traumatic brain injury treatments and outcomes, and has presented her research internationally.

Audra M. Dickens, J.D.

Director, McCandlish Holton, PC

Presentation: Contemporary Ethical Considerations in Forensic Neuropsychology: Practical Perspectives from a Neuropsychologist and a Lawyer 
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

Audra Dickens is a Director in the litigation practice group at the Richmond, Virginia firm McCandlish Holton. Her practice focuses on civil litigation, primarily in the areas of automobile liability defense and trucking defense, as well as premises and products liability defense. She also has experience in cases involving significant electronic discovery and numerous state and federal appellate matters. Audra retains experts in almost every case she handles, requiring her to work closely with medical and liability expert witnesses throughout the life of the case. She has successfully represented clients in jury and bench trials in state and federal courts across Virginia. She is the current Chair of the Auto & Transportation Liability Section of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys (VADA) and has been named a “2019 Rising Star” in Transportation/Maritime Law in Virginia.

Peter Dodzik, Psy.D.

Neuropsychologist, Fort Wayne Neurological Center

Presentation: American Board of Pediatric Neuropsychology: Examination Preparation
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 11:00 AM-1:00 PM

Peter Dodzik, PsyD, ABPdN, ABN is a pediatric neuropsychologist at Fort Wayne Neurological Center in Fort Wayne Indidana and at Northwest Behavioral Health Services in Arlington Heights, Iliinois. He is the Examination Chair for the American Board of Pediatric Neuropsychology (ABPdN) and has previously served as President of the ABPdN.

Philip S. Fastenau, PhD

Director of Neuropsychology and Professor of Neurology, University Hospitals / Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Presentation: Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs:  Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

Dr. Philip Fastenau, PhD is Professor of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director of Clinical Neuropsychology at University Hospitals Neurological Institute. He has served in many roles as a neuropsychologist, including direct clinical care, research, teaching, administration, consulting, and professional service with federal agencies and professional organizations. His research in clinical neuropsychology has been funded by various federal agencies, including National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Nursing Research, Center for Disease Control, and Rehabilitation Services Administration. He has published over 60 journal articles and chapters and has presented approximately 200 peer-reviewed papers or invited addresses. Dr. Fastenau has received several national awards including the American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award, Epilepsy Foundation Junior Investigator Research Award, and the NIH/NINDS Junior Investigator Travel Award and he has been elected Fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society.

Krista Freece, PhD, ABN 

Board Certified Neuropsychologist, Kaiser Permanente

Presentation: Evolving Neuropsychological Considerations and Case Studies of Individuals who Identify as Transgender and Gender Non-Binary/Nonconforming
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Krista Freece, Ph.D., ABN earned her doctorate from Fielding Graduate University, with an emphasis in neuropsychology. She earned board certification in neuropsychology in 2015 and currently serves as a work sample reviewer for the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology. She works for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and her clinical focus is on neuropsychological assessment of individuals with a broad range of presenting problems, including dementia, stroke and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Freece’s clinical training in psychotherapy includes experience in Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy for treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Louis M. French, PsyD

Site Director, DVBIC, WRNMMC

Presentation: Hot Topics in Traumatic Brain Injury
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Dr. French is the Deputy Director for Operations at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). He served as the Chief, Traumatic Brain Injury at Walter Reed Army Medical Center prior to the BRAC integration of Walter Reed and National Naval Medical Center, and in that role at WRNMMC, prior to the integration of all TBI services on the WRNMMC campus in late 2014. He is also the site director for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed, the largest site in that network. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the screening, assessment, and rehabilitation of those with TBI at the flagship military care facility in the DoD network. He is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Rehabilitation at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. French received his doctorate in clinical psychology, focused on assessment, from the George Washington University. He completed fellowships in clinical and experimental neuropsychology at the National Institute of Mental Health and in neuropsychology, focusing on traumatic brain injury, at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In his current role, Dr. French has participated in multiple Federal panels and workgroups about TBI in the military, helping to shape current policy on screening and treatment for TBI on the battlefield and at home. These included the Army Surgeon General’s Taskforce on TBI, whose report provided the foundation for the structure of TBI screening and treatment that is currently in place in the DoD. He was one of the authors who reshaped the SAC to construct the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE), which is the standard for concussion screening in theater. At WRNMMC, he participates in a diversified research portfolio. He is principal investigator on multiple studies of TBI in returning Service Members, including the Congressionally mandated 15-year natural history of TBI in military service members study. He is a lead investigator and co-Director of the Phenotyping Core with the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM), a program that integrates research efforts on TBI and PTSD between the DoD and the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in the area of military TBI and neuropsychology.

Jay N. Giedd, MD

Professor, University of California, San Diego

Presentation: The Teen Brain
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Jay N. Gided, M.D. is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCSD and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. In addition, he is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the Department of Family and Reproductive Medicine and at Fukui University, Japan. Over the past 26 years Dr. Giedd has combined brain imaging, genetics, and behavioral analysis to explore the path, mechanisms, and influences of brain development in health and illness. As one of the most highly cited child psychiatrists of his generation, his over 300 scientific publications have had a transformative impact on medicine, psychology, education, judicial, and public policy. Dr. Giedd’s recent work has focused on how new insights from pediatric neuroscience can be used to optimize the environment for healthy brain development, particularly regarding education and the use of digital technologies that have transformed the way youth learn, play, and interact with each other. In addition to his numerous academic awards, his work has been prominently featured in the general media with cover stories in Time, National Geographic, and national newspapers as well as over 30 television documentaries. For his outreach to students of all ages and frequent talks to parents, teachers, mental health workers, legislators, and the general public, Dr. Giedd was honored as co-recipient of the 2012 Society for Neuroscience’s Science Educator Award.

Jessica Gill, CRNP, PhD

Deputy Scientific Director, National Institutes of Health

Presentation: Hot Topics in Traumatic Brain Injury
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Dr. Gill is a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Deputy Scientific Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), who is uniquely positioned to undertake this proposed project. Dr. Gill has an established clinical and laboratory infrastructure to examine the biological mechanisms of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and concussions and related comorbidities including, post-concussive disorder (PCD), depression and neurological deficits. Current projects biomarkers within collegiate athletes in the NCAA CARE Consortium. Other collaborations include analyses of epigenetic modifications in athletes with repeated TBIs, as gene-expression changes related to neuronal imaging findings, and relations to PCD symptoms. Dr. Gill plans to use both the insights and infrastructure from current projects to initiate this novel project to address the critical issue of the molecular mechanisms of concussion related symptoms in military personnel, civilians, and athletes. Dr. Gill is a Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, an award that provides the necessary support her intramural program of research at NIH to address this critical issue through novel treatment and investigational strategies. We expect this project to further support her program of research that will identify novel interventions to treat TBI and concussion related impairments to address this critical issue youth and athletes with a concussion.

Gerard A. Gioia, PhD

Division Chief, Pediatric Neuropsychology, Children’s National Medical Center

Presentation: Hot Topics: Taking Neuropsychology Out of the Office: Extending Our Practice through Telehealth Technology
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Dr. Gerard Gioia is a pediatric neuropsychologist and the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology at Children’s National Medical Center, where he directs the Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He is a clinician, researcher, and teacher/ trainer. He has particular interest and expertise in the executive functions and youth sports concussion, and has developed a number of assessment and treatment monitoring tools, including the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Tasks of Executive Control (TEC). He directs the Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core Laboratories of the Clinical & Translational Science Institute and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers at Children’s National. He has been the Principal Investigator of several multi-site CDC-funded research studies of mild TBI in children and adolescents.

Daniel Gizzo, PhD

Southern California Permanente Medical Group

Presentation: Supervision and Ethics during Neuropsychological Training and Beyond: A Competency Based Approach
Date: Friday, November 15 
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Daniel Gizzo, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist specializing in working with children and adolescents. He is a graduate of the California School of Professional Psychology and is licensed as a psychologist in California and New York. He is the Training Director for the APA-accredited Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program doctoral internship in San Diego. Dr. Gizzo also provides a variety of clinical services in an HMO setting, including pediatric neuropsychological assessment, autism/developmental assessment, and assessment of ADHD. Dr. Gizzo is also the chair of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Psychologists workgroup and oversees their continuing education program for psychologists. Dr. Gizzo’s clinical interests include clinical research, evidence based treatment for children, treatment of Tourette’s Syndrome, and Feedback Informed Care in psychotherapy.

Lana Harder, PhD, ABPP

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Children's Medical Center Dallas/University of Texas Southwestern

Presentation: Hot Topics in Pediatric Neuropsychology
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM


Presentation: Grand Rounds: Pediatric
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 3:15 PM - 5:15 PM

Dr. Harder leads the Neuropsychology Service at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and serves as the Neuropsychology Training Director, with joint faculty appointments in Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology with subspecialty certification in Pediatric Neuropsychology. Nationally, she serves on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the Board of Directors of the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology, the Board of Directors and Scientific Council of the Transverse Myelitis Association, and as the Co-Editor of the National Academy of Neuropsychology Bulletin. Her research focuses on pediatric demyelinating diseases and tele-neuropsychology. Dr. Harder completed doctoral training at University of Texas at Austin and pre-doctoral internship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychology at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine.

Laura A. Hart, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCGP

Assistant Clinical Professor, University of California, San Diego | Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Presentation: Medication Overuse and Implications for Dementia
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Laura Hart is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS) in the Division of Clinical Pharmacy. Prior to joining the faculty at SSPPS in September 2018, she completed a specialty residency and research fellowship in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy and served as an instructor in the Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy in Seattle, Washington. As part of her postgraduate training, she earned a Master of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy. Her research focuses in geriatrics, aiming to optimize medication use in older adults. In particular, her research has used pharmacoepidemiologic methods to examine risks and patterns of medication use in older adults. Her research to date has focused in the areas of dementia, central nervous system-active medications, falls. She is also interested in the implementation and evaluation of innovative pharmacy practice models in the care of older adults.

Kenneth M. Heilman, MD

Distinguished Professor Emeritus; Staff Neurologist, University of Florida; North Florida South Georgia Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Presentation: Unilateral Neglect
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Kenneth M. Heilman received his M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1963, was a Medicine PGY 1&2 at Cornell-Bellevue Hospital (1963-65), and an Air Force Captain and Chief of Medicine at NATO Hospital, Izmir, Turkey (1965-1967). He took a Neurology residency and fellowship at the Harvard Neurological Unit of Boston City (1967-1970), mentored by Drs. Denny Brown and Geschwind. He joined the faculty at the University of Florida (1970) and is now the James E Rooks, Jr Distinguished Professor. Between 1996 and 2009 he was Chief of the Neurology at the Gainesville VA. He is listed in multiple editions of the Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Doctors and Who’s Who. More than 70 post-doctor fellows have trained in his Behavioral Neurology-Neuropsychology program and the majority now hold academic positions with several being leaders in academic neurology, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Heilman’s research has been supported by the VAMC and/or NIH for more than 40 years. He is the author or co-author or editor or co-editor of 14 books and more than 600 peer reviewed publications. He and his coworkers have described several new diseases/disorders and their treatment (e.g., orthostatic tremor), and helped to better understand many neurobehavioral disorders (e.g., emotional communication, sensory-motor neglect, anosognosia, and apraxia). Dr. Heilman has received many honors: membership in Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and the Dana Foundation, Clinical Research and the Lifetime Achievement Awards from the University of Florida, a past President and Distinguished Career Awards from both the International Neuropsychology Society (INS) and the Society for Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. He is an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association, a Fellow in the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the Wartenberg Keynote Lecture Award at the AAN.

Alan Hoffer, MD

Director, Traumatic Brain Injury Center | Co-Director, Neurocritical Care Center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Presentation:Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs: Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Dr. Alan Hoffer is a neurosurgeon and neurointensivist at University Hospitals of Cleveland in Cleveland, OH where is the Director of the UH Traumatic Brain Injury Center and the Co-Director of the UH Neurocritical Care Center. His interests span the spectrum of traumatic brain injuries from concussion to severe TBI. In 2015, Dr. Hoffer co-founded the hospital system’s concussion specialist certification program to standardize and expand diagnosis and treatment of patients with mild TBI. Recently, he served the National Football League as an Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant. In the inpatient setting, Dr. Hoffer is interested in the outcomes and experiences of patients with critical injuries of the central nervous system. In his spare time, he tries to entertain his four children and raises hot peppers.

Rob Knight, PhD

Professor, University of California San Diego

Presentation: How your Microbiome Speaks to your Brain, and What it is Saying
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM

Rob Knight is the founding Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and Professor of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, and Computer Science & Engineering at UC San Diego. He is the author of “Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes” (Simon & Schuster, 2015), and coauthor of “Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System (St. Martin’s Press, 2017). He co-founded the Earth Microbiome Project, and the American Gut Project, which is among the largest crowdfunded science projects of any kind to date. He has spoken at TED and Davos, written three books and over 600 scientific articles, and in 2017 he won the Massry Prize, often considered a predictor of the Nobel. His work has linked microbes to a range of health conditions including obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, has enhanced our understanding of microbes in environments ranging from the oceans to the tundra, and made high-throughput sequencing techniques accessible to thousands of researchers around the world.

John Knippa, PhD, ABN

Clinical Neuropsychologist, Coast Psychiatric Associates

Presentation: American Board of Professional Neuropsychology Board Certification Preparation Workshop
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Dr. Knippa completed graduate training at UW-Milwaukee, followed by clinical internship and postdoctoral training at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine - Nebraska Psychiatric Institute. He began practice in 1983 at a multispecialty Regional Trauma Center in Long Beach and in Orange County, CA. Since 1991, he has maintained a full-time outpatient practice in Long Beach and a part-time consulting practice in Salt Lake City. He enjoys office sharing with 3 psychiatrist colleagues. He sees clinical, forensic, aviation neuropsychology and Fitness for Duty cases. Cases seen include a wide spectrum of diagnostic considerations, not limited to: Neurology, psychiatry, occupational medicine, geriatrics, pain management, TBI, mental health, mixed personal injury and others. Dr. Knippa is Board Certified (1999) by and a Past President of the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology. He regularly provides peer consultation, having enjoyed working with colleagues across the United States and Canada, as well as some in Europe and Asia, to further the field of neuropsychology and promote scientific inquiry and sound practice methods.

George F. Koob, Ph. D

Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health

 

Presentation: A Heuristic Neuropsychological Domain Framework for Understanding the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorders
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

George F. Koob, is Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as of January 27, 2014. He is also a Senior Investigator at the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse where he directs the Neurobiology of Addiction Laboratory in the Integrative Neurosciences Research Branch As an authority on alcoholism, drug addiction and stress, he has contributed to our understanding of the neurocircuitry associated with the acute reinforcing effects of alcohol and drugs of abuse and the neuroadaptations of the reward and stress circuits associated with the transition to dependence. Dr. Koob has published over 700 peer reviewed papers and several books including the “Neurobiology of Addiction,” a comprehensive treatise on emerging research in the field, and a textbook for upper division undergraduates and graduate students called “Drugs, Addiction and the Brain.” He has mentored 11 Ph. D students and over 80 post-doctoral fellows. He received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Physiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1972. He spent much of his early career at the Scripps Research Institute as the Director of the Alcohol Research Center, and as Professor and Chair of the Scripps’ Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders. Dr. Koob is the recipient of many honors, including membership in the National Academy of Medicine and award of the Legion of Honor (France).

Gregory P. Lee, PhD

Professor of Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological Institute

Presentation: Grand Rounds: Adult
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Gregory P. Lee, PhD is a Professor of Neurology at the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, where he is Director of the Neuropsychology Service. Dr Lee is board-certified in Clinical Neuropsychology, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Neuropsychology, and Past-President of the American Board of Professional Psychology. In addition to overseeing neuropsychological services for the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Dr. Lee also teaches courses in the behavioral neurosciences for medical, allied health, and neuroscience graduate students, serves as the Director of Clinical Training for the medical school’s postdoctoral neuropsychology fellowship program, and oversees NAN’s online course on Clinical Neuroanatomy. Professor Lee is also an active researcher with over 130 publications dealing with human cerebral hemispheric specialization for memory functions, language, emotion, and other cognitive functions primarily using functional neuroimaging and epilepsy surgery models.

Shari M. Ling, MD

Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Acting Director, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services | Center for Clinical Standards and Quality

 

Presentation: Opportunities and Challenges of Caring for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment & Dementia amidst an Evolving Healthcare System
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Dr. Shari M. Ling currently serves as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), She assists the CMS Chief
Medical Officer in the Agency’s pursuit of CMS mission of Putting Patients First.



This mission is achieved through the following goals:
-Empower patients and doctors to make decisions
about their health care
-Usher in a new era of state flexibility and local leadership
-Support innovative approaches to improve quality, accessibility, and affordability
-Improve the CMS customer experience

Dr. Ling’s committed focus is on the achievement of meaningful health outcomes for beneficiaries and families through the delivery of high quality, person-centered care,
across all care settings. Her leadership as the Acting Director for the Office of Clinician Engagement from December 2016 to March, 2018 and continued support of the CMS
Patients over Paperwork is part of this. Dr. Ling contributes her clinical expertise as a Geriatrician and Rheumatologist, and her program expertise as the DCMO, to the developmentand the implementation of the CMS Roadmap to address the opioid crisis.

Dr. Ling represents CMS on several Health and Human Services (HHS) efforts. She leads the Clinical Services federal workgroup for the National Alzheimer’s Project Plan,
and represents CMS on the workgroups to eliminate and prevent Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs), the National Strategy to Combat Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria
(PACCARB), and also contributed to he Cancer Moonshot Initiative under the previous administration.

Dr. Ling earned a Master’s in Gerontology in Direct Service at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, an MD degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine,
completed a rheumatology fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital followed by a Geriatric Medicine fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She
continues her clinical work through the VA Loch Raven outpatient clinic as a volunteer dementia care provider, and has retained her appointment as part-time faculty in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her clinical focus and scientific interest is in the care of persons with dementia, multiple chronic conditions, and functional limitations.

Renee Low, PhD, ABN

Clinical Neuropsychologist, Sutter Health

Presentation: American Board of Professional Neuropsychology Board Certification Preparation Workshop
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Renee Low, Ph.D., ABN: Dr. Low is a neuropsychologist at Sutter Medical Foundation in Sacramento and her areas of focus include pre-surgical deep brain stimulation evaluations for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor as well as other neurological issues including brain tumors, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and dementia. She also participates in research projects for various neurological issues and is currently working on studies for individuals with mild cognitive impairment and temporal lobe epilepsy. She received her Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego. Prior to her current job, she worked as the Co-Director of the Swedish sports concussion clinic in Seattle and served as faculty for the ACGME Swedish Sports Medicine Fellowship. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology and is the current president.

Arthur Maerlender, PhD, ABPP-CN

Research Associate Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Presentation: Hot Topics in Pediatric Neuropsychology
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Presentation: Grand Rounds: Pediatric
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 3:15 PM - 5:15 PM

Dr. Maerlender is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist with academic affiliations in Nebraska and in New Hampshire where he currently resides. Most recently his research has focused on sports-related concussion and mTBI. He has founded numerous concussion-related organizations and participated in national committees. He is currently the Emeritus Research Director of the B1G 10 - Ivy League TBI Research Collaboration. He teaches graduate classes and is co-director of the Franklin Pierce-ItsAbility concussion clinic; he serves as the medical and scientific advisor for Atavus Rugby and Football Performance company where his focus is on developing coaching methods for teaching safer tackling. Dr. Maerlender coaches men’s collegiate rugby and is the author of Concussion Competencies: A Framework for School-based Concussion Management (US). A United Kingdom edition is due out soon.

Daniel Marson, Ph.D., JD

Presentation: Serving as a Neuropsychological Expert: Some Thing to Know
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Daniel Marson, PhD, JD is a practicing clinical neuropsychologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is also an attorney licensed in Alabama (active) and in Illinois (inactive). Prior to academic retirement in 2017, Dr. Marson directed the Department of Neurology’s Division of Neuropsychology and also the UAB Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Dr. Marson graduated from Carleton College (BA, 1976), University of Chicago Law School (JD, 1981), and Northwestern University (PhD, clinical psychology, 1990). Dr. Marson has lectured nationally and internationally on loss of competency and other medical-legal abilities in neurocognitive disorders and has over 130 peer reviewed articles and other publications on these topics. He has been principal investigator on multiple NIH and foundation grants and his work on financial capacity in the elderly has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, BBC, and on NPR. Dr. Marson is a past president, board member and fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. He is a member of the Commission on Law and Aging of the American Bar Association. Over the past 28 years, Dr. Marson has served as a consulting and testifying expert witness in a wide range of civil, criminal and regulatory legal matters. He enjoys playing folk, blues, and praise harmonica and has published in the jazz magazine Downbeat.

Brian M. Mizuki, Psy.D., ABPP-CN

Section Head, Neuropsychology Division | Co-Director, Cognitive Disorders and Brain Health Program, Ochsner Health System

Presentation: Beyond RVUs – Expanding Neuropsychology’s Role in Patient Care and Getting Off The Productivity Treadmill
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Dr. Brian Mizuki received pre and post-doctoral specialty training in clinical neuropsychology. Dr. Mizuki received his Doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D) from The Illinois School of Professional Psychology (ISPP-Chicago) upon completing a Pre-Doctoral internship at the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, with a specific focus in Neuropsychology. Following internship, he concluded his training with a 2-year Fellowship in Neuropsychology at the University of Virginia Medical Center -Department of Neurology. He obtained Board Certification in Clinical Neuropsychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABBP-CN) in 2016. Dr. Mizuki joined the Ochsner Department of Neurology in 2014. He specializes in assessing the cognitive functioning of individuals with a wide variety of conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (and other dementias), movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy, stroke, and primary psychiatric disorders. He regularly presents in the community, at Ochsner Health System and through the Alzheimer's Association on topics such as "Optimizing Brain Health Across the Lifespan" and "Behavioral Management Strategies for Individuals with Dementia.

Jeffrey R. Murray, Psy.D.

Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow, Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center

Presentation: Evolving Neuropsychological Considerations and Case Studies of Individuals who Identify as Transgender and Gender Non-Binary/Nonconforming
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Presentation: Supervision and Ethics during Neuropsychological Training and Beyond: A Competency Based Approach
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Jeffrey Murray, Psy.D is currently a 1st year neuropsychology postdoctoral fellow in the neuropsychology department at the Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo, California. Prior to his fellowship, Jeffrey completed his APA-accredited internship with Kaiser Permanente - San Diego. Prior to internship, Jeffrey completed practicum trainings in the neuropsychology department at the Loma Linda University Medical Center and the UCLA Semel Institute performing inpatient and outpatient neuropsychological evaluations and brief therapy.

Joy Neumann, PsyD

Bilingual Neuropsychologist , Children’s Medical Center Dallas / UTSW

Presentation: Hot Topics in Pediatric Neuropsychology
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Dr. Joy Neumann is a bilingual neuropsychologist at the Children’s Medical Center Dallas Neuropsychology Service and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She evaluates the neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning of English and/or Spanish-speaking children with medical conditions. She also facilitates the participation of Spanish-speaking families in research studies and is dedicated to increasing awareness about how to approach bilingual cases in a clinical setting. Dr. Neumann earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Carlos Albizu University in Miami, Florida. She completed her internship training at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and fellowship training in pediatric neuropsychology at Children’s Medical Center.

Marc Norman, PhD

Section Chief, Cognitive Medicine Group, UC San Diego

Presentation: Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs: Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Dr. Norman received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, emphasizing in neuropsychology, from Brigham Young University. He completed the UC San Diego / VA San Diego Psychology Internship program and a postdoctoral fellowship at the UC San Diego Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego working with multidisciplinary epilepsy, brain tumor, and solid organ transplant teams. He provides neuropsychological assessments and conducts Intracarotid Amytal Procedures (aka Wada) and intraoperative brain mapping for the epilepsy and neuro-oncology teams. Dr. Norman is board certified in clinical neuropsychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology and is a board examiner. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and National Academy of Neuropsychology. He serves on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology and Professional Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Foundation of America, and he is the incoming Executive Director for the International Neuropsychological Society.

Neil H. Pliskin, PhD

Neuropsychology Program, University of Illinois College of Medicine

Presentation: Understanding, Applying, Documenting and Billing for the 2019 Testing Codes
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 3:15 PM - 5:15 PM

Dr. Neil Pliskin is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist and Professor Clinical Psychiatry and Neurology in the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Dr. Pliskin serves as Director of Neuropsychology services at UI Health, and has had 30 years of experience working as a clinical neuropsychologist and directing clinical neuropsychology training programs. Dr. Pliskin is past President of the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology of the American Psychological Association and has served as APA advisor to the AMA/CPT Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee since 2009.

Kenneth Podell, PhD, FACPN

John M. O’Quinn Centennial Clinical Academic Scholar in Concussion Research and Care, Houston Methodist

Presentation: Hot Topics: Taking Neuropsychology Out of the Office: Extending Our Practice through Telehealth Technology
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Dr. Podell is the John M. O’Quinn Centennial Clinical Academic Scholar in Concussion Research and Care and the Director of The Houston Methodist Concussion Center and Neuropsychology Section, Dept. of Neurology, Houston Methodist. and is an Associate Professor in Neurology at Weill-Cornell Medical College, Institute of Academic Medicine, Houston Methodist, and Texas A&M College of Medicine and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Houston. He is a Fellow of The National Academy of Neuropsychology and Sports Neuropsychology Society. He has lectured extensively on various aspects of sports-concussion assessment and treatment. He has been involved tele-health delivery for concussion assessment care for over four years.

Antonio E. Puente, PhD

Professor of Psychology/Co-Chair APA Advocacy Coordinating Committee, University of North Carolina Wilmington / American Psychological Association

Presentation: Understanding, Applying, Documenting and Billing for the 2019 Testing Codes
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 3:15 PM - 5:15 PM

Presentation: Update on Health Care Policy: From Status to Advocacy
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Antonio Puente, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), was the 2017 president of the American Psychological Association. His research focuses on the interface between culture and neuropsychology and is the author/editor of eight books, 22 chapter and 110 articles. He maintains a private practice in clinical neuropsychology, ranging from clinical to forensic assessments. He was on the Editorial Panel of the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology.

Tresa Roebuck Spencer, PhD

Jefferson Neurobehavioral Group

Presentation: Assessing Outcomes in Neuropsychology: How do we “Add Value” in a Changing Healthcare Landscape
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Dr. Roebuck Spencer is a board-certified Clinical Neuropsychologist licensed in Louisiana, Florida, and Washington DC, who specializes in neuropsychological evaluation and treatment. She provides neuropsychological assessments for a wide range of conditions, including general memory and cognitive problems, traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. She also provides psychotherapy for patients and their families who are adjusting to cognitive problems and assists with return to everyday functioning and responsibilities. Dr. Roebuck Spencer has worked extensively in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, neurology, and psychiatry departments, interacting with multidisciplinary treatment teams. Dr. Spencer has also been actively involved in professional advocacy and has served on the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) as Member at Large from 2015-2017 and President-Elect in 2018. She will serve as the President of NAN in 2019. Dr. Roebuck Spencer is actively involved in research and has published more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited books. Her research interests focus on traumatic brain injury, rehabilitation, computerized neuropsychological testing, and telemedicine. She currently also works part time as a neuropsychologist for Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville, FL and holds a research affiliation with the University of Oklahoma, where she continues to conduct research on military traumatic brain injury and sports concussion. Dr. Roebuck Spencer has served as an expert witness in state and federal courts in cases relating to neuropsychology and clinical psychology, including brain injury, stroke, pain, and psychological/psychiatric disorders. Dr. Roebuck Spencer earned her PhD in clinical psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology from the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program. She completed a neuropsychology focused internship at the University of Chicago Medical Center and postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) in Houston, TX.

David R. Rosenberg, MD

Chair, Wayne State University

Presentation: Brain Function and Treatment Response for Internet Addiction Across the LifeSpan
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Dr. David Rosenberg’s undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Michigan coincided with a period of time in which the application of neurobiological approaches to neuropsychiatric disorders was new and exciting. After completing his General and child psychiatry residency and fellowship training at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Dr. Rosenberg completed a 3-year NIMH Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research. His research focused on utilizing a developmental systems neuroscience approach in childhood onset neuropsychiatric disorders. He benefited from great mentorship from the renowned Neuropsychology team at the University of Pittsburgh applying neurobehavioral and neurocognitive probes with novel neuroimaging PET and fMRI studies. Dr Rosenberg has been funded continuously by NIMH since 1996. Dr. Rosenberg then moved to Wayne State University as chief of Child Psychiatry. In 2012, he was named chair of the department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State where he also serves as the Director of the Translational Neurosciences Institute and the Miriam Hamburger Endowed Chair of Child Psychiatry. His research has focused on imaging genetic studies of neuropsychiatric disorders and he has led several large NIH consortium grants as lead PI at the lead/coordinating site. He has published extensively and been the recipient of numerous honors and awards including receiving first prize in the neuropsychoparmacology competition at the International Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology, the A.E. Bennett Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the Psychiatric Times Teacher of the Year. He also published the first textbook on pediatric Psychopharmacology now in its third edition. He is also frequently sought out by the national media and his research has been featured several times on the NBC Today Show, ABC 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, PBS and NPR.

R. John Sawyer, II, PhD, ABPP-CN

Co-Director, Cognitive Disorders and Brain Health Program, Ochsner Health System

Presentation: Beyond RVUs – Expanding Neuropsychology’s Role in Patient Care and Getting Off The Productivity Treadmill
Date: Thursday, November 14
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Dr. John Sawyer is a board-certified neuropsychologist trained to evaluate children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics. Dr. Sawyer was awarded his Ph.D. in Psychology from The University of Memphis. He completed his internship at the Memphis VA Medical Center. He concluded his training with a 2-year fellowship in Neuropsychology at the Maryland VA Health Care System. Afterward, he remained on staff as a Neuropsychologist at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Currently, he is the Co-Director of the Cognitive Disorders and Brain Health Program at Ochsner Health System.

Mike R. Schoenberg, PhD

Professor, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine

Presentation: Grand Rounds: Adult
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 1:45 PM - 3:45 PM

Mike R. Schoenberg, PhD, ABPP is Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology(ABCN)/ABPP and Subspecialty Board Certified in Pediatric Neuropsychology by ABCN/ABPP. He is a Professor in the Dept of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine with appointments in the Dept of Neurology. He is Chief of the Neuropsychology Division at USF. He serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology and is Chair of the APA Relations Committee of the Society for Neuropsychology/Div 40 of the APA. He is co-Editor of The Little Black Book of Neuropsychology: A Syndrome Based Approach (2011) and has published over 70 peer reviewed articles. He has received grants from the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology Foundation, US Dept. of Defense and the State of Florida.

John F. Strang, PsyD

Director, Gender and Autism Program, Children’s National Medical Center

Presentation: Gender Diverse and Transgender Youth: Ethics and Emerging Roles for the Pediatric Neuropsychologist
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

John Strang, PsyD, is a pediatric neuropsychologist in the Division of Neuropsychology, Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Gender Development Program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC. The Gender Development Program at Children’s National is one of the first founded pediatric gender care programs in the United States. After identifying an over-representation of gender-variance related experiences in autistic youth, Dr. Strang led the development of the initial clinical guidelines for autistic gender dysphoric adolescents. He is the founder and Director of the Gender and Autism Program, a multi-disciplinary clinical and research initiative serving the broad care needs of neurodiverse gender-diverse youth. His research also focuses on measure development and assessment of gender diversity characteristics and related needs in children and adolescents. Dr. Strang is part of the work group developing the new child and adolescent clinical Standards of Care 8 through the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Anthony Y. Stringer, PhD

Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University

Presentation: Preparing for the ABPP Board Certification Examination in Clinical Neuropsychology: Everything You Wanted to Know but Didn’t Know Who to Ask
Date: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Anthony Y. Stringer, Ph.D., ABPP/ABCN is Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University and is the Director of the Division of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology in the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Stringer is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and is the past president of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. He has practiced neuropsychology and cognitive rehabilitation for over 30 years. Dr. Stringer is a fellow of the American Psychological Association - Society for Clinical Neuropsychology and of the National Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. Dr. Stringer has authored or edited books on neuropsychological diagnosis and the history of neuropsychology, and has published numerous articles, abstracts, and book chapters from his research on neuropsychological syndromes and cognitive rehabilitation outcome.

Nirav N. Vakharia, MD

Vice Chief, Value Based Operations, Cleveland Clinic

Presentation: The Last Mile: Effectively Connecting Data & Analytics into a Population Health Care Model
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Dr. Nirav Vakharia is a primary care physician at the Cleveland Clinic where he also serves as Vice Chief, Value Based Operations; President and Medical Director, Medicare Accountable Care Organization in the Community Care Unit. In these roles he is supporting efforts to build the system’s capabilities to succeed in risk-based payment models, with a specific focus on enabling the population health strategy. He also co-leads a clinical process improvement training program that engages frontline clinicians in improvement efforts via experiential learning. His current research projects include using public datasets to assess the cost of harm, and identification of factors that lead to preventable admissions. Dr. Vakharia received his B.S in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed training in internal medicine and a chief residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Before entering medicine, he worked as a middle school math and science teacher in an underserved public school in Washington, DC.

Jill Winegardner, PhD

Director of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and UH Neurological Institute

Presentation: Hot Topics: Integrated Multidisciplinary Teams/Programs: Exemplars, Logistics, and Opportunities for Neuropsychologists to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Date: Saturday, November 16
Time: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Dr. Winegardner is a clinical neuropsychologist with 35 years of experience including acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient assessment and rehabilitation. She has a passion for neuropsychological rehabilitation, which led her to co-found and direct one of the earliest holistic brain injury rehabilitation programs in Cleveland in the 1980’s. Years later, she moved to England to take the post of Lead Psychologist at the world-renowned Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation from 2010 to 2018. During these years, she also indulged her interest in introducing neuropsychological rehabilitation to other countries by joining Professor Barbara Wilson in providing consultations with government agencies and medical centers all over the world to assist in designing evidence-based programs and systems of care for acquired brain injury. She has taught NPR in countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Russia, India, and Singapore. She returned to Cleveland in 2019 as Director of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation at the UH Neurological Institute. Dr. Winegardner is Associate Editor for the journal, Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. She has published many articles and chapters and has presented dozens of papers at national and international meetings; she co-authored the 2013 volume Life After Brain Injury: Survivors' Stories and is co-editor of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation: The International Handbook, a state-of-the-art volume in neuropsychological rehabilitation published in 2017. In 2015, Dr. Winegardner was honored by the British Psychological Society with the 2015 Practitioner of the Year Award.

Jonathan Woodhouse, PsyD., ABPP-CN

Director, Gaylord Specialty Healthcare

Presentation: Professional Affairs and Information Committee (PAIC) Seminar: Navigating Value-Based Care
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Dr. Woodhouse is the Director of the Psychology Department at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare and is the current Chair of the NAN PAIC. He is the current President of the Neuropsychology Division of the Connecticut Psychological Association, and is a member of the board of the Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut. Dr. Woodhouse serves as a Practice Sample Reviewer and participates in the Mentorship Program for the American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Neuropsychology.

C. Vaile Wright, PhD

Director, Research & Special Projects, American Psychological Association

Presentation: Professional Affairs and Information Committee (PAIC) Seminar: Navigating Value-Based Care
Date: Friday, November 15
Time: 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

C. Vaile Wright, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Special Projects in the Practice Directorate at the American Psychological Association. As part of the Practice Research and Policy department, she focuses on the development and implementation of programs and policies related to expanding opportunities for professional psychology. This includes projects aimed at increasing access to psychological services for the public through the integration of psychology in the health care delivery system, helping psychologists respond to legislative changes related to health care, developing professional and clinical practice guidelines, and increasing outcomes measurement and quality improvement efforts, including the development of a CMS-approved Outcomes Data Registry. She has maintained an active line of research with peer-reviewed articles in multiple journals including Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Law and Human Behavior and the Journal of Traumatic Stress. She received her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2007, and is licensed in the District of Columbia.