Brown Psychology Training Consortium
Clinical Psychology Internship
Neuropsychology Track
Geoffrey Tremont, PhD, Track Coordinator

The Neuropsychology Track rotations are designed to meet American Psychological Association (Division 40)/International Neuropsychological Society guidelines for internship training in clinical neuropsychology. Rotations therefore provide both didactic and experiential training in a) general clinical psychology; b) diagnosis, consultation, and treatment methods in neuropsychology; and c) methods and practices in neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. Track rotations provide
complementary experiences in general medical, psychiatric, and pediatric settings. A weekly Neuropsychology Seminar is taught by track faculty, and provides didactic instruction on such topics as neuropathology, neuroimaging, and specific neuropsychological disorders. Weekly Neuropsychology Rounds provide a forum for case conferences, research presentations, professional and ethical issues. Neuroradiology Rounds provide the intern with in-depth exposure to CT and MRI imaging in a clinically-oriented format.

For clinical and research interests for the faculty listed below please click here.

The Neuropsychology Track is composed of the following rotations:

Psychiatric Neuropsychology - Butler Hospital
Faculty Supervisor: Paul Malloy, Karen Holler

This rotation emphasizes the role of clinical neuropsychology in a psychiatric setting. Interns are primarily involved in diagnostic consultation to psychiatric inpatients. The most commonly encountered neurological disorders are degenerative disease (e.g., Alzheimer's), toxic and metabolic encephalopathies, substance-related impairment (e.g., Korsakoff's), and cerebrovascular dementia. Many of the patients are elderly, and virtually all display psychiatric symptoms that prompted hospitalization. Through the Butler Hospital Memory Clinic, the intern has the opportunity to participate in a multidisciplinary diagnostic consensus conference. One day per week the intern will work on the Child & Adolescent service. During inpatient consultations, the intern will have the opportunity to interact with psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers at the hospital, and participate in the development of appropriate treatment programs for patients and their families using behavioral and cognitive-behavioral techniques. The intern also will have opportunities to liaison with teachers and special educators in the community. With children, learning disability, attention deficit disorder, and developmental disabilities are common referral questions.

Child Neuropsychology - Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island
Faculty Supervisors:  Allison Evans, Anjali Palav, Julie Wilson

The child neuropsychology rotation is designed to emphasize the role of the neuropsychologist as a member of an interdisciplinary team in a general medical setting. The rotation will focus on development of intern's assessment, treatment planning, and consultation skills in a pediatric outpatient setting. Toward this goal, training takes place in Memorial Hospital of RI's Neurodevelopmental Clinic (MHRI). On the MHRI pediatric neuropsychology service, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental disabilities, tic spectrum disorders, head injury, and seizure disorder are common reasons for referral. Interns are involved in 2-3 neuropsychological evaluations per week on the MHRI pediatric service. Psychotherapeutic interventions include the development of behavioral programs for patient and families, meeting with school personnel, and family education regarding cognitive and emotional functioning. The intern will develop competence in neuropsychological and psychological assessment, consultation regarding assessment results and recommendations, and behavioral and treatment intervention planning.

Medical Neuropsychology Rotation-Veterans Administration Medical Center
Faculty Supervisor: Stephen Correia, Ryan Garrity

This rotation emphasizes the role of the neuropsychologist in a general medical setting. The majority of consultation requests at this facility are for outpatient assessment of neurodegenerative disorders of aging (e.g. mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, etc.), often in the context of multiple medical and psychiatric comorbidities. Other common referral requests are for substance-related impairment; head injury, particularly those related to blast-injury from military operations in the global war on terror; and for guiding psychiatric treatment planning. Inpatient assessments are also provided. The neuropsychology intern will conduct approximately four neuropsychological consultations per week. The training emphasizes development of targeted assessment skills, interpretation and communication of results, integration of neuroimaging results, and formulation of treatment recommendations.

12 month Clinical Research focused experience
Dementia Clinical Research-Rhode Island Hospital 
Faculty Supervisor:  Geoffrey Tremont Holly Westervelt, Jennifer Davis, Brian Ott

Clinical- research focused experiences, unlike the 4 month rotations described above, are 12 month long experiences providing concentrated clinical-research training in a specialty area. During the 1st 8 months of the training year, time is spent as follows: 50% dementia clinical research, 20% inpatient neuropsychological evaluation at RIH, 20% outpatient neuropsychological evaluation at RIH, 10% didactics. During the last 4 months of the training year, time is spent as follows: 60%
dementia clinical research, 40% out-of-track clinical experience.

The research aspects of this rotation focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of dementia and the impact of the disorder on the patient's daily functioning and family. The clinical training involves assessment of patients with a broad range of presenting problems. While this experience will include training in comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation of patients with dementia, integration with a multidisciplinary memory disorders program, and assessment and treatment of dementia caregivers, patients with a variety of other neurological, medical, and psychiatric conditions will also be assessed.