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My Academic Life:
Research and Clinical Interests and Experience |
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Current Research |
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I spent my first few years in grad school working in the Laboratory of Cognitive Electrophysiology and Functional Neuroimaging in the Department of Psychology at Georgia State University, under the supervision of Dr. Frank Haist. My master's thesis research project was an fMRI study that examined the neural correlates of phonological processing during reading.
My dissertation research is being supervised by Dr. Mary Morris, and is a study of the cognitive correlates of specific spelling disability versus comorbid reading and spelling disability. Data will come from a large sample of college students, and will include clinical measures and spelling error analyses.
Click on the link below for more information about dyslexia and other learning disabilities. |
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Supplemental Training |
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In November 1999, I and three of my fellow grad students attended a visiting fellowship program in fMRI at the Massachusetts General Hospital NMR Center in Charlestown, MA. I highly recommend this experience to anyone looking for intensive training in functional MRI. We learned about everything from fMR physics to proper task design and implementation to data analysis. Click the logo below for information about the visiting fellowship program.
Click on the camera icon below to see two pictures of us in Massachusetts! |
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Clinical Training |
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Prior to beginning graduate school, I worked for three years as a research assistant in the Cognitive Neuroscience Section, Medical Neurology Branch, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition to assisting with a variety of research projects, this is where I learned assessment skills and the beginnings of case conceptualization. We collected clinical and experimental neuropsychological data from a variety of patient populations, including patients with frontal and posterior penetrating head injuries and other various neurological disorders.
While in grad school, in addition to seeing psychotherapy clients at the GSU Psychology Clinic, I also conducted neuropsychological assessments of college students with suspected learning disabilities at the Regents Center for Learning Disorders. I have received excellent supervision in both settings, which has helping me hone my case conceptualization and report-writing skills.
In the last few years, I have also had the good fortune of working at Shepherd Center, a non-profit rehabilitation hospital for people with brain and spinal cord injuries. My work at Shepherd included both research and clinical work, supervised by the very bright and highly competent clinical neuropsychologists Stephen Macciocchi, Ph.D., and Amy Alderson, Ph.D. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to work at Shepherd. |
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Coursework and Beyond |
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In addition to general psychology courses, I have taken advanced courses in research methods and statistics, the full selection of clinical courses (e.g., therapy and assessment sequences, ethics, diversity), and a group of specialized courses in neuropsychology and behavioral neuroscience (e.g., neuroanatomy, neuropsychopharmacology, developmental neuropsychology, clinical neuropsychology, neuropsychological assessment, issues in neuropsychological rehabilitation, and a special topics in cognitive neuroscience course on the neuropsychology of reading).
My plan for the remainder of my time at GSU includes wrapping up my clinical work and completing my dissertation. I will move to Tucson, Arizona in June 2003 in order to begin my clinical internship at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. |
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"The Deal" on Grad School in Psychology |
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I'm often asked the question, "Aren't you finished with school yet?" To those of you who ask (or want to ask) this question, I know it seems to you as if I've been doing this an awfully long time--and I have. Still, I've got quite a lot of work left ahead of me. For example, I have a dissertation to finish and a year-long clinical internship to complete before my degree is finally conferred. But wait, there's more! After receiving my degree I'll still need to successfully complete a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in order to earn the right to call myself a clinical neuropsychologist. So, please be aware that just because I'm done with classes and most other requirements and am leaving GSU to move to Tucson does not mean I'm finished with training!
The good news is that time flies when you're learning about things you care about (and when you're incredibly busy)! So please don't pity me too much, or think that I'm intentionally dragging my feet in school so that I can stave off the necessity of joining the workforce. I promise that I will finish with school as soon as I am done. Also, please don't forget about me or think that I've forgotten about you just because we are not in touch as often as we used to be. If you've been a friend to me, I'm still thinking of you!
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Page credits: Background taken from National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) web site. Brain icon taken from Neuropsychology Central web site. |
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