Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Sections

Rehabilitation Neuropsychology

 

Rehabilitation Neuropsychology

This fellowship between the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at UVA includes both assessment and rehabilitation UVAhospital.jpgservices.  Services are interdepartmental and transdisciplinary in nature, with emphases on practical clinical training, team consultation, didactic educational components, and potential research opportunities.  The faculty includes full-time clinical neuropsychologists who provide supervision, training, and professional development opportunities.  The fellowship maintains active liaison with other neuropsychology fellowships within this medical center as well as other fellowships in medical psychology (e. g., clinical neuropsychology and forensic programs).

University of Virginia and Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center 
Neuropsychology Laboratories 

WWRC.gifThe Rehabilitation Neuropsychology Fellowship is based within the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center Neuropsychology Laboratory, and is affiliated with the University of Virginia HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital.  The program is administered through the University of Virginia Neurocognitive Assessment Laboratory within the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine.  The primary rotation is at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, where fellows conduct neuropsychological assessments and participate in transdisciplinary team consultation, utilizing a flexible battery approach for patients with a wide array of neuropathological conditions. Referrals to the WWRC Neuropsychology Laboratory include various forms of acquired brain injury, the largest subgroup being traumatic brain injury, along with smaller populations of clients with stroke-related disorders, and neoplastic disease.  The fellow also participates in following a selected number of clients for consultative and psychotherapeutic services within the Brain Injury Services Department at WWRC.  The fellow interacts with multidisciplinary treatment teams to provide information on cognitive strengths and weaknesses for diagnosis, treatment, and discharge planning. Fellows learn to integrate personality data and psychiatric history into neuropsychological reports and gain experience with obtaining valid assessments of patients with hearing and communication deficits, limited education and/or premorbid learning disorders, and different ethnocultural backgrounds. Fellows can also participate in cognitive remediation programs that address cognitive and behavioral deficits following acquired brain injury.  Didactic and collaborative research opportunities are potentially also available.

The other core rotation is at the UVA HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, where the fellow has an opportunity to learn a broad range of neuropsychological assessment procedures primarily within the inpatient context, including the Halstead-Reitan Battery and Allied Procedures, along with flexible battery and brief, bed-side approaches to neurocognitive evaluations. Fellows are exposed to a wide array of neuropathological conditions including the full spectrum of closed and penetrating head injuries, cerebrovascular diseases and accidents, infections (e. g., HIV), neoplastic disease, seizure disorders, spinal cord injuries and substance abuse. Report writing, communication with referral sources, rehabilitation team consultation, feedback sessions with patients, treatment planning and exposure to the complexities of managed care contacts and billing are all part of this educational experience.  Formal didactic and professional development opportunities are also aspects of this core set of experiences.

Clinical Focus (70%)

      Primary Sites:

Educational & Professional Development (20%)

  • Neuropathology Lab (Brain Cutting)
  • Observation of Neurosurgery and/or organ transplantation
  • Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Grand Rounds
  • Neuropsychology Fellows' Seminar, Neuropsychology Journal Club
  • Western State Hospital Grand Rounds
  • Monthly Psychology Fellows Meeting

Research Focus (10% or less)

  • Opportunities may exist for development of original research in an area of rehabilitation neuropsychology in which the fellow has a particular interest.
  • Opportunities may also exist for participation in ongoing research projects in mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury; sports concussions; epilepsy surgery; Alzheimer's and related diseases; sleep disturbances; pulmonary dysfunction and lung transplantation; cerebrovascular disorder; cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, substance abuse, and dementia; attentional deficits and learning disabilities; rehabilitation strategies; clinical trials and neuroimaging studies.

Core Faculty

Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center Neuropsychology Laboratory

  • Gerald R. Showalter, Psy.D.

UVaHS Neuropsychology Service

  • Scott D. Bender, Ph.D., ABPP-Cn

UVA Affiliated Faculty

  • Jeffrey T. Barth, Ph.D., ABPP-Cn
  • Donna K. Broshek, Ph.D.
  • Jason R. Freeman, Ph.D.

Current Fellows

  • Marlena Matusewicz, Psy.D.

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR REHABILITATION NEUROPSYCHOLOGY:

Not seeking applicants for 2012

__________________________________________________________________________________

 

DIRECT INQUIRIES AND MATERIALS TO:

Gerald R. Showalter, Psy.D.
Brain Injury Services Department
Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center
P. O. Box 1500
Fishersville, VA 22939
Gerald.Showalter@wwrc.virginia.gov