Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology
Supervisors:
Ron Cohen, Ph.D., ABPP, ABCN
Description of Site:
The Miriam Hospital (TMH) is a private, 260-bed, not-for-profit, acute care hospital and academic medical center. It is one of the two primary teaching hospitals for Brown University Medical School. It has busy inpatient and outpatient services, with specialty areas that include cardiovascular medicine and cancer. It is also the location of the Brown Center for AIDS research and houses the largest HIV clinic in the state. It also houses the longest standing Memory and Cognitive Disorders Clinic in the state. The Brown University Centers for Behavioral Medicine, located in the Coro Building about a mile from the main hospital has one of the largest concentrations of research psychologists and psychiatrists within the university. Neuropsychology is part of this center of TMH. The hospital has expertise in both neuropsychiatry and geriatric psychiatry as well.
The TMH Neuropsychology Program is located in a 2000 square foot clinical space in the Coro Bldg., and is in close proximity to the Behavioral Medicine Clinic, where there is large number of psychologists and psychiatrists delivering clinical services. The outpatient program receives referrals from internists, neurologists, and psychiatrists with questions of differential diagnosis and treatment planning for a wide range of adult patients, including those with dementia, stroke, HIV, ADHD, TBI, multiple sclerosis, and neuropsychiatric disorders. There is an almost equal split of geriatric and younger adult patients. In addition, we participate in multi-disciplinary memory clinic, in which cases are discussed in a group format. Inpatient referrals come from all medical and surgical specialties across the medical center, with referral questions including issues of competence, differential diagnosis, rehabilitation, and disposition. A focus of the evaluation process is the follow-up, feedback appointment, at which time the patient and family/caregivers are provided with both written and oral summaries of the examination, along with detailed recommendations.
Clinical Responsibilities:
The fellow is expected to engage in four days of clinical activities, which will primarily involve outpatient assessments, and occasional inpatient consultation (biweekly). Outpatient evaluations include conducting history interview, administering and scoring tests, writing reports and patient summaries, and assisting in follow-up, feedback sessions. Inpatient consultation includes chart review, bedside interview and examination of the patient, and rapid turn-around of report. Ongoing, active supervision by Drs. Tremont, Davis, Westervelt, Ott, and Wu within the memory clinic is an important aspect of the fellowship. Fellows are individually supervised on a case-by-case basis, with at least two hours of supervision provided each week.
Research Program:
The TMH Neuropsychology Program has an active research component with many ongoing investigations. Examples of funded projects include, NIH supported studies of cardiovascular disease effects on the brain, HIV effects on the brain, attention, motivational, and emotional processes in addiction, and functional brain imaging. Clinical trial studies of dementia are also conducted as a part of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study and the opportunity to participate in studies of clinicopathologic correlation in dementia exists. The program maintains a large comprehensive clinical database and a memory clinic database which allows for retrospective research to be easily conducted. The fellow has one full day of protected research time each week. It is expected that the fellow will play an active role in the research program, and will submit abstracts, manuscripts, and possibly a grant, throughout the fellowship.
Didactics:
The fellow is expected to attend a variety of didactic seminars and rounds, with time set aside from other activities to attend these important training opportunities. Among these didactics are: weekly Brown-wide activities (including Neuropsychology Rounds, Neuropsychology Seminar, Grant Writing), weekly Neurology Grand Rounds and Neuropathology Rounds at RIH, monthly RIH Neuropsychology Case Conference, monthly Clinical Psychology Post-Doctoral Seminar, and monthly Brown Psychiatry Grand Rounds. We also offer ABPP oral exam preparations sessions throughout the fellowship year. The fellows are expected to make presentations at several of these conferences.
Available Resources:
The Neuropsychology Program is located in a large suite in the Physicians Office Building on the RIH campus. Free parking is available. Fellows are each provided with a computer and printer. In addition to routine office suite software applications, up-to-date statistics and database software are also available. All computers are networked, with high speed internet access. Multiple literature search engines are available (e.g., Medline, Psychlit) and both the Brown Science Library, and the TMH Medical Library are easily accessible. As part of the Brown Neuropsychology Training Program, the fellow has access to numerous potential collaborators across the system. In addition, because of the active research program, several research assistants, graduate students, and undergraduates are available to assist on research and other appropriate activities.
Starting Date:
The appointment begins September 1, 2007. Specific start-up dates are to be discussed and arranged individually. The fellowship is typically for a period of two years. Decisions regarding the second year of funding will be made approximately half-way through the first year.
Additional Information:
The telephone number for the Neuropsychology Program at TMH is (401) 793-8787. The fax number is (401) 793-8287. Dr. Cohen’s email address is: rcohen@lifespan.org.