Neuro Cognitive/Behavioral Disorders and Neurorehabilitation - Rhode Island Hospital 

Faculty Supervisors: Laura Korthauer, PhD, Kristen Wesbecher, PhD, & Denise Labelle, PhD

Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) is one of several teaching hospitals within Brown University Health. RIH is a private, 719-bed, not-for-profit, acute care hospital and academic medical center founded in 1863.  It is the largest of the state's general acute care hospitals, providing comprehensive health services, and serves as a primary teaching hospital for the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. RIH is the largest trauma center in the region and has extensive neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry departments. The neuropsychology program is housed in the Coro Building, which is an outpatient clinic a short walk or shuttle ride from the RIH campus.

Newport Hospital. Newport Hospital is a state-of-the-art, non-profit hospital in Newport, RI, that offers a wide range of medical services including a 24/7 emergency department, surgical services, diagnostic imaging, the Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center, and the Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center. Neuropsychology is integrated into the inpatient services at Newport Hospital. Inpatient neuropsychology referrals come from throughout the hospital with referral questions including issues of decision-making capacity, differential diagnosis, rehabilitation needs, and disposition. A unique experience is available on the inpatient rehabilitation program, operated by the Vanderbilt Rehabilitation Center, which provides a comprehensive intensive, multidisciplinary care following acquired injury, illness, or surgery alongside allied health providers including physiatry, speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

This rotation emphasizes the role of the neuropsychologist in a general medical and rehabilitation setting. The rotation involves two outpatient assessment days per week with Drs. Korthauer and Wesbecher. Outpatient referrals include patients with a broad range of presenting problems, including mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Functional Neurological Disorder (FND; psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and motor FND), as well as traumatic brain injury, stroke, psychiatric conditions, and other medical disorders. Additionally, once per month, the clinical psychology resident will service the Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) Clinic at Rhode Island Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Korthauer. The NPH Clinic is an interdisciplinary fast track program serviced by specialists in neurosurgery, neurology, neuropsychology, and physical therapy. Patients with suspected NPH receive same day evaluations from each of these disciplines followed by a consensus discussion. This monthly clinic will substitute for one outpatient case with Dr. Korthauer. As part of their training, the clinical psychology resident will have the opportunity to provide care through the inpatient consultation service at Newport Hospital one day per week, under the supervision of Dr. Labelle. This experience offers valuable access to bedside clinical interviewing, brief assessments, and report writing for individuals with acute medical conditions or those participating in inpatient rehabilitation following acquired injuries or illnesses. In some cases, residents may begin the evaluation process during hospitalization and then briefly extend the assessment in the outpatient clinic post-discharge—typically within a few weeks—in order to complete treatment planning or clarify diagnostic questions that could not be fully addressed in the inpatient setting. The Newport Hospital is ~30 miles from Rhode Island Hospital and requires a car for travel. Travel expenses are reimbursed.

Contingent upon workload and the satisfactory completion of required duties, clinical psychology residents in the Medical Neuropsychology This rotation may be offered opportunities to participate in Wada testing for pre-surgical epilepsy evaluations, as well as intraoperative brain mapping procedures aimed at preserving eloquent cortex and white matter tracts during tumor resections. 

Neurodegenerative Disorders and Geriatric Psychiatry - Rhode Island Hospital & The Miriam Hospital

Faculty Supervisor(s): Melissa Buttaro, PhD, ABPP-CN, David Ahern, PhD, Kimberly Chapman, PhD, & Kelli Sullivan, PhD

Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) is one of several teaching hospitals within Brown University Health. RIH is a private, 719-bed, not-for-profit, acute care hospital and academic medical center founded in 1863.  It is the largest of the state's general acute care hospitals, providing comprehensive health services, and serves as a primary teaching hospital for the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. RIH is the largest trauma center in the region and has extensive neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry departments. The neuropsychology program is housed in the Coro Building, which is an outpatient clinic a short walk or shuttle ride from the RIH campus.

The Miriam Hospital. The Miriam Hospital (TMH) is a 265-bed, not-for-profit, acute care hospital.  It is also a teaching hospital affiliated with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. TMH provides comprehensive health services, with specialties in cardiovascular medicine, oncology, and immunology.  It is the site of the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR), the largest program for HIV in the state. TMH is the site of the Centers for Behavioral Medicine, which is one of the largest research centers within Brown University and is comprised of one of the largest groups of psychologists within the Brown Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (DPHB), and it houses a dedicated and growing outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry specialty program. The inpatient neuropsychological consultation service at TMH receives referral questions including issues of decision-making capacity, differential diagnosis, rehabilitation needs, and disposition.

This rotation emphasizes the role of the neuropsychologist in a general medical and geriatric psychiatry setting. The clinical psychology resident will see two outpatients per week (supervised by Drs. Buttaro and Ahern) and one day per week rotating between inpatient consultation service at TMH, brief/targeted outpatient evaluations in the geriatric psychiatry specialty program at TMH, and brief interpreted evaluations with linguistically diverse outpatients (supervised by Drs. Chapman or Sullivan). This clinical psychology resident will also participate in weekly interdisciplinary dementia consensus meetings led by behavioral neurologists in RIH’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center (ADMDC) to discuss shared patients.

Contingent upon workload and the satisfactory completion of required duties, clinical psychology residents in the Medical Neuropsychology Rotation  may be offered opportunities to participate in Wada testing for pre-surgical epilepsy evaluations, as well as intraoperative brain mapping procedures aimed at preserving eloquent cortex and white matter tracts during tumor resections.

Medical and Neurosurgical Neuropsychology - Rhode Island Hospital (previously listed as General Medical Neuropsychology Rotation)

Faculty Supervisor(s):  Jennifer Davis, PhD, ABPP-CN & Seth Margolis, PhD, ABPP-CN

Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) is a private, non-profit hospital located in Providence, RI.   It is the largest general acute hospital in the state with over 700 acute-care hospital beds.  RIH is the Level-1 Trauma Center for southeastern New England.  RIH provides comprehensive health services for adult with pediatric care provided at Hasbro Children’s Hospital located on the campus.  RIH is the principal teaching hospital for the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The Neuropsychology Program is housed in an outpatient clinic just a short walk or brief shuttle ride to the main hospital building.  The program provides outpatient and inpatient consultation services.  The program receives referrals from Rhode Island Hospital’s Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Center, Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Stroke Center, Neuro-oncology, Movement Disorders Program, Transplant Center, and Psychiatry as well as from community medical providers. This rotation emphasizes the role of the neuropsychologist in a general medical setting.  The rotation involves outpatient assessment of patients with a broad range of presenting problems, including dementia, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, movement disorders, stroke, psychiatric conditions, and other medical disorders. The resident will have the unique opportunity to function in multiple interdisciplinary specialty clinics for dementia, surgical treatment of movement disorders and normal pressure hydrocephalus, and epilepsy. The resident will also cover the inpatient consultation service one day per week. This service includes bedside clinical interviewing, assessments, and report writing for patients with acute mental status changes, including delirium, stroke, brain injury, or complicated general medical conditions. The clinical psychology resident will present cases at interdisciplinary consensus meetings for specialty clinics in dementia, movement disorder, and epilepsy. Opportunities within our Comprehensive Epilepsy Program also include pre- and post-surgical evaluations and Wada testing.  Participation in intraoperative cortical language mapping procedures with patients undergoing brain tumor resection may also be available.

Neuropsychological Assessment Rotation - Providence VA Medical Center 

Faculty Supervisor (s): Megan Spencer, PhD, Donald Labbe, PhD, Ryan Van Patten, PhD, ABPP-CN, Emma Gosselin, PsyD, & Emily Hallowell, PhD

The Providence VA Medical Center (PVAMC) serves as one of the major teaching hospitals for Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at Brown. The PVAMC is dedicated to providing high quality comprehensive outpatient and inpatient healthcare to veterans residing in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Patients are veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces of varied ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The PVAMC serves as a primary site for Brown residents in Psychiatry, Surgery, and Primary Care Medicine. 

This rotation is housed within PVAMC’s Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service (MHBSS). Experiences are provided in adult neuropsychology in outpatient and inpatient hospital settings. Referrals arise from various services in the medical center, particularly MHBSS and the Neurology and Primary Care services. The neuropsychology training experience emphasizes the impact of neurodegenerative, neuromedical, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions on cognitive functioning.  

Consultation requests are varied and include outpatient assessment of neurodegenerative disorders of aging (e.g., mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, etc.), neurologic conditions (e.g., multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, chronic sequelae of stroke or traumatic brain injury), decision making capacity, psychiatric disorder (especially depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse disorders), as well as attention disorders and learning disabilities. Inpatient referrals are typically for characterization of current cognitive status and differential diagnosis to guide treatment and discharge planning. Clinical psychology residents may have the opportunity to conduct assessments of military deployment-related traumatic brain injury in the Polytrauma/TBI Clinic. Clinical psychology residents may also have the opportunity to participate in an empirically validated psychoeducational cognitive training protocols with patients who do not have dementia. Care is largely provided using a face-to-face format, although some virtual care is offered for veterans living at a geographical distance from the medical center. Feedback of neuropsychological test results are provided in-person and virtually based on veteran preference.

The VA neuropsychology rotation is designed to emphasize the role of the neuropsychologist as an independent consultant to both outpatient and inpatient services. Clinical psychology residents will be provided with time for report writing and to fulfill their commitments to their year-long research and therapy placements. 

Clinical psychology residents have full access to test manuals and other resources needed for efficient test administration, scoring, and interpretation. Computer word-processing templates are provided to aid in report writing and computerized scoring programs are available for many tests. All report writing is finalized within the VA's electronic medical record system. Directed readings and digital educational resources are provided as needed to supplement the training experience. 

Psychiatric Neuropsychology - Butler Hospital

Faculty Supervisor(s): Nicole McLaughlin, PhD, Athene Lee, PhD, Farah Aslanzadeh, PhD

This rotation provides training in clinical neuropsychology in a psychiatric setting.  Founded in 1844, Butler Hospital is Rhode Island’s only private, non-profit psychiatric hospital for adolescents, adults, and seniors. Butler is affiliated with Alpert Medical School of Brown University and is the flagship for its Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. Butler has specialty inpatient units in geriatrics, substance abuse, adolescents, and mood disorders, as well as partial hospital programs focusing on young adults, women and substance abuse. Butler houses a multidisciplinary Memory and Aging Program, a Psychiatric Neurosurgery Program directed by Dr. Nicole McLaughlin, and a Movement Disorders clinic directed by Dr. Joseph Friedman.

Clinical psychology residents work as a member of a team that includes neuropsychology fellows, practicum students, and supervisors. Consultations range from differential diagnosis of primary psychiatric disorders to evaluation of dementia patients with and without behavioral disturbance. Consults also frequently involve substance abuse, traumatic brain injury, and mixed psychological/physical trauma. Clinical neuropsychology residents interact with attending psychiatrists and their teams on the inpatient and partial units to provide feedback on their consults. Computerized scoring programs are available to transform raw scores to standardized scores, and templates are available to facilitate report writing. Trainees gather background information and enter their consult reports via an electronic medical record.

In addition to individual supervision, clinical psychology residents have the opportunity to participate in biweekly Memory and Aging Program meetings, biweekly Neuropsychology Program meetings, and monthly group supervision meetings.