CCN2012 roundup

On behalf of the CCN2012 committee, I would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the 254 people who attended our conference last week, and who made it such a resounding success.

Positive feedback has been coming in from around the country and overseas, and the consensus seems to be that it was a stimulating, inspiring, diverse program that managed to deliver a lot of practical information that was also evidence-based. One CCN conference veteran even said that it was "invigorating, in a way that other conferences have been."

The only criticisms have been that there was almost too much to choose from, that the information was almost overwhelming in its scope and variety, and that it was possibly half a day too long. We understand completely - now you know how hard it was for us to organise the conference schedule - we wanted to attend nearly everything! In terms of criticisms, these are good ones, and ones we had ourselves :)

We wanted to have a conference that covered a broad spectrum of scientific and practice issues for neuropsychologists, and for others who work with our patients. The market research of the CCN helped us to identify issues that were of interest and relevant to our members,  and we tailored the call for submissions accordingly. We were overwhelmed by the quality and variety of submissions received, and our very full conference program was the result of this evidence-based approach to conference planning.

We are in the process of obtaining powerpoint slides from the presenters, which will be uploaded to our CCN website, along with audios from the sessions. This will hopefully provide many hours of CPD opportunities in the coming months.

Thanks, once again, to the presenters who filled our program with such quality. Without your submissions and investment of time and energy, we wouldn't have had our program. We are indebted to you for making it an exhilarating and inspiring conference. Thanks also to our reviewers, volunteers, session chairs, and members who so freely gave their time and enthusiasm to an inclusive and progressive conference.

We now hand over the reins of this blog to the CCN2013 committee, who are preparing for our 19th conference in Brisbane next year, a conference that will celebrate 30 years of the CCN in Australia. The team is preparing a program that is rich in practical, scientific, professional, and social activities, which we hope will be even more successful than CCN2012.

Subscribe to this blog by email or other feeds (see the gadgets to the right), and you'll be kept up-to-date  in all the 2013 conference developments.

Over and out
Fiona Bardenhagen

CCN2013 and beyond

Hello, and welcome to the CCN conference blog. This is your one-stop blog for updates about all CCN conference from 2013 onwards.

Stay tuned for updates about location of conferences and program details. It is also a great place to access the call for papers, program details and invited speaker information.

Feel free to add this blog to your reader (eg: Google Reader, Feeddler on ipad), so that you can be automatically updated.

As you may already know, the CCN conference is to be held in Queensland in 2013. For the first time it will be held in the beautiful city of Brisbane. We hope that you will be able to enjoy the wonderful weather, with the convenience of travel to a capital city. You will be able to view first hand the Brisbane River and its surrounds, and the great work that has been done re-building South Bank after the flood.

The Qld organising committee look forward to welcoming you to Brisbane.

Free drinks and discounted student rates for Vineyard social function

On Friday the 23rd of November, we will be holding a sumptious cocktail party at the stunning Josef Chromy Vineyard at Relbia (just 15 minutes from the Launceston CBD). The venue was chosen because it is beautiful, and the food and wine are outstanding. There will be ample and delicious food for everyone, so you won't need to find somewhere to eat afterwards.

Due to the success of the conference registrations, we are happy to announce that this event will now include complimentary drinks (wine, beer, & soft drinks), and students will be able to attend for the discounted rate of $30 ($65 for other conference delegates). Buses will take us to and from the Vineyard.

Just imagine watching the sun setting over these hills at 830pm, before returning to Launceston on the CCN buses an hour or so later....

To add this social function to your registration, just use the link on your registration confirmation letter to access your registration, and select the Vineyard Social Function.

Continuing Professional Development

The Conference Committee has applied to the APS for CPD endorsement for this conference - people with endorsement in clinical neuropsychology will be able to use conference points towards their PsyBA requirement of 30 CPD points per year, and CCN members will be able to claim under the APS requirement for neuropsychology CPD points. Other psychologists will be able to claim CPD points for attending the conference - if you feel that the events you attend are relevant to your area of endorsed practice, you are able to claim towards that area, as long as you document the activity and the relevance to your area as per the PsyBA rules.

A note on "Active CPD"

We hope to make every (nonsocial) activity at the conference suitable for attendees to claim Active CPD points, though providing questions to test learning at the end. We are asking presenters to prepare questions, but we will provide them if the presenters don't! The professional practice forums on the second day of the conference might even constitute a form of peer supervision for attendees

There seems to be a common misconception that conference attendance does not normally count towards 'Active CPD' because there needs to be evidence of learning such as an 'assessment' at some point in the talk or workshop.

This belief about active CPD and conferences is incorrect.

The PsyBA Guidelines on CPD show that Active CPD is much easier to obtain than the common narrow interpretation that it must involve assessment. The Guidelines state:

Active CPD
Ten (10) hours each year are recommended to be 'active CPD' which refers to continuous professional development activities that engage the participant in active training through written or oral activities designed to enhance and test learning. This is a recommendation of the Board, not a requirement.
Examples of 'active' CPD include the following:
• attending seminars where there is a written test
• reading a structured series of professional psychology articles followed by completing an online assessment
• giving an oral presentation or tutorial to a group of peers on a new topic in psychology
• providing peer consultation to others
• attending a workshop which requires in vivo role play of skills;
• studying a new technique, followed by trialling this technique in the workplace, and a review and evaluation of the effectiveness and implementation of that technique (italics and underlining added.)

If the definition of active CPD is "activities that engage the participant in active training through written or oral activities designed to enhance and test learning", then even if a conference doesn't provide a written test or online assessment, if a psychologist engages in writing reflective, evaluative notes about the presentation afterwards, testing themselves on what they learnt after the presentation and writing down the answers, or talking to others about the presentation afterwards (in a formal, reflective way, like an oral report), then they could class it as Active CPD - This strategy is detailed in the Guidelines of Area of Practice Endorsement in the section on Active CPD for Registrars (p.8):

Where activities are not inherently active, the supervisor must be involved to ensure that the activities become active. For example, if CPD activities are not inherently active, the supervisor must set written work or another activity (for example, an oral report) to meet the active requirement.

Active CPD is only mandatory for people on the registrar program. It is recommended, but not required, for all other psychologists.

Registrations now open

conference registrations are now open  at  https://events.psychology.org.au/ei/cm.esp?id=1285&pageid=_3KF0WMHTP

The full abstracts are viewable at https://events.psychology.org.au/ei/speakers/CCN2012_Abstracts.pdf

Our Scientific Chair, Mathew Summers, has written this overview of the conference program:

The 18^th Annual College of Clinical Neuropsychology Conference is hosted and sponsored by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) College of Clinical Neuropsychologists and the Tasmanian Branch of the APS College of Clinical Neuropsychologists. The theme of the 18^th Annual CCN conference, “Neuropsychology in Action” guided the selection process of materials for the conference as well as the structure of presentation formats. The driving force for designing the 18^th Annual CCN Conference was to develop a collection of current research in applied neuropsychology as well as ensuring that professional development needs of practicing neuropsychologists was met. This nexus between research and practice in the applied setting is represented in the 81 abstracts selected for the 18^th Annual CCN Conference.

Over the course of the 3½ day conference, a total of 22 platform papers, 26 research posters, one keynote address, 3 symposia, 8 workshops, 5 practice fora, 5 how-to-sessions, 8 lectures, 2 student case presentation sessions, and one public forum will be presented. A range of exciting topics will be covered from research relating to paediatric neuropsychology, traumatic brain injury, and dementia. Workshops will feature interactive learning on topics including Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment, driving assessment, and Motivational Interviewing. Invited international speakers for the 18^th CCN Conference are Dr Alex Troster (Barrow Neurological Institute, Arizona) and Dr Tad Gorske (University of Pittsburgh) will present a series of workshops and keynote addresses of relevance to both researchers and practitioners. The Organising Committee awarded the inaugural CCN student travel prize to Ms Jodi Kamminga (Macquarie University) for her abstract “Prevalence of HIV associated neurocognitive disorder in a primary-care HIV positive cohort: Preliminary findings”.

As scientific chair I would like to thank the members of the organising committee and other contributors to the organisation of the 18^th Annual CCN Conference: Fiona Bardenhagen (Conference Chair), Emma McCrum, Debbie Anderson, Mark Lamont, Sigrid Denehey, Dave Tuck, Tim Hannan, Alan Tucker, Stephen Bowden, Rachel Zombor, and Sarah McRae. I would also like to thank the 19 reviewers who provided independent reviews of all submissions received to ensure a conference program of the highest standard. Finally, I would like to thank the volunteer students from the School of Psychology at the Univerisy of Tasmania for giving their time to the running and organisation of the conference, as well as the student volunteers from the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, and La Trobe University for assisting in the daily running of the conference.

Dr Mathew Summers

Scientific Chair

Conference abstracts

The conference abstracts are now viewable online, at

https://events.psychology.org.au/ei/speakers/CCN2012_Abstracts.pdf

Keynote address: Alex Troster

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEUROPSYCHOLOGY IN A WORLD OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Rapid neuroscience and technological advances herald a departure of some of neuropsychology’s traditional roles in health care but opens many new opportunities. Just as clinical neuropsychology has thrived decades after its use for determining the presence and location of a brain lesion faded with the advent of modern neuroimaging, so will neuropsychology thrive in an era when test administration is largely automated and its roles will likely increasingly involve early cognitive change detection, evaluation of therapies’ safety and efficacy, and selection of candidates for various treatments. Activities such as brain mapping for surgery and determination of language dominance are likely to remain neuropsychologist activities for some time. New roles will include participation in clinical trials design, behavioral medicine interventions for patients with cognitive compromise (e.g., medication adherence, exercise promotion to reduce risk of vascular disease), and incorporation of genetics and biomarkers into understanding of brain-behavior relationships and cognitive processes. Challenges facing clinical neuropsychology have traditionally centered around the availability and reimbursement for services and, in the US,  the assumption of testing roles by technicians/psychometrists and computers; neuropsychologists have become quite adept at dealing with these issues and examples of collaboration with payers and development of testing guidelines will be described. New challenges will be to train a new generation of neuropsychologists with technological, biological, and clinical expertise relevant to a new world technology and public health and health care cost reduction. The academician will have many new tools to test cognitive theories and to participate in translational research, adapting animal findings to bedside. To highlight some of these roles, examples of applications of neuropsychology to neurotherpeutic technology will be selected from studies in movement disorders.

Cognitive Impairments in Movement Disorders: Alex Troster

Alex Troster will be presenting the following 3-hour workshop at our conference in November.

COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS IN MOVEMENT DISORDERS

Much research continues to be devoted to the early diagnosis and treatment of the most common dementia, Alzheimer’s disease. In the last two decades, however, increasing attention has been paid to what were traditionally referred to as “subcortical dementias,” Parkinson’s disease (PD) dementia (PDD) and the rarer dementia associated with Huntington’s disease (HD). The first part of this workshop will deal with the rarer HD and atypical parkinsonian syndromes such as progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, and multiple system atrophy. In the case of HD, particular emphasis will be placed on preclinical neuropsychological characteristics and recent questions about the implications of an “indeterminate” number of CAG repeats. Recent AAN treatment guidelines will also be summarized. For each atypical parkinsonian disorder recent advances in understanding the neural substrates of the disorder (including neuroimaging findings) and treatments are discussed. The neuropsychological differentiation of tauopathies from alpha synucleinopathies, and atypical from typical parkinsonian syndromes will be highlighted. Neuropsychological profiles of some clinical cases will be discussed. The second half of the workshop deals with PD and, consistent with recent research, emphasis is placed on mild cognitive impairment, potential imaging and biomarkers (e.g., beta amyloid and phosphorylated tau), and outcomes of treatments such as gene therapy and deep brain stimulation. The neuropsychological features associated with early dopaminergic deficits are described and differentiated from those probably related to other neurotransmitter abnormalities. Recent diagnostic criteria for PD MCI, and the special emphasis of neuropsychology in them, will be described.

Thankyou!!!

We are very excited by the diversity and number of submissions received for the conference! There are a large number of research papers and poster submissions, and also a pleasing number of workshops, symposia, lectures, and how to sessions, covering both practical and knowledge-based areas of neuropsychology. It was amusing that one of the last submissions we received last night was for a presentation on the neuropsychology of procrastination...

Due to a number of requests for extensions, the submissions portal will remain open until 5pm tomorrow, Australian Eastern Standard Time. So if you would like to submit something for our conference, it's not too late.

We are in the process of allocating submissions to reviewers for the review process, and hope to have the program finalised and open registrations before July 12th.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed, and for your interest in this blog - we've had over 4000 views, with more than 1600 in the last month, resulting in a number of redirects from a "goneviral" website, and large numbers of views from pages around the world. If you're an international reader, we hope you might be able to join us in November.

This blog isn't over yet - look out for more information on Launceston, Tasmania, and the conference program as it develops. But for now, thanks. We have some abstracts to read....

Invited workshop: Motivational Interviewing in Neuropsychology Basic Principles and Methods

Motivational Interviewing in Neuropsychology

Basic Principles and Methods

By: Tad T. Gorske, Ph.D.

Neurological disorders constitute approximately 6% of the global burden of disease (WHO, 2006) requiring a need for rehabilitation strategies for restoration of functioning. Non-compliance with rehabilitation recommendations can compromise a successful recovery program. Non-compliance can be related to client motivational or disability factors in addition to family member’s difficulty coping and adapting to the responsibilities of a rehabilitation program (Suarez, 2011).  While the problem of poor compliance has been studied as a factor in managing patients with medical issues, physical disabilities, cognitive impairments, and other injuries; little has been written about teachable methods for enhancing motivation and increasing compliance with rehabilitation recommendations. The Health Behavioral Change (HBC) model which is based on Motivational Interviewing (MI) fills this important gap by giving healthcare professionals essential tools for discussing the importance of following rehabilitation recommendations in addition to other topics such as exercise, eating habits, medication compliance, smoking, and drinking (Rollnick, Mason, and Butler, 1999; Miller and Rollnick, 2002). The HBC model was originally designed for physicians and provides a concise framework that can be used for brief-time limited interventions. It has been used in various rehabilitation settings where a therapeutic and collaborative relationship is an essential component for enhancing patient participation and outcome attainment (Prigatano, 1999).

In this training participants will learn the background and principles of the HBC model and its application to rehabilitation.  The essential elements of the model will be reviewed in addition to the specific clinical skills necessary to conduct an HBC session.  Participants will receive practical skills to guide client(s) through the difficult task of change all the while maintaining an empathic and collaborative relationship, rolling with client resistance, and then gently guiding them through the process of collaborative goal development and attainment.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn….

1. The background and conceptual foundations of the HBC model;
2. The core interpersonal skills for conducting an HBC session;
3. To identify a client’s stage of change and intervene appropriately;
4. To assess clients level of readiness for change and enhance change talk;
5. Collaborative ways to manage client resistance;
6. To explore and enhance levels of importance and confidence for making difficult behavior changes;
7. To give feedback and advice in a way that maintains collaboration and motivates change;
8. To enhance client readiness to transition to more active and directive treatment interventions.

Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment

Invited workshop:

Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment - Tad Gorske

One of the challenges Clinical Neuropsychology faces is to develop an assessment process that is relevant and responsive to patient’s needs. Neuropsychology has typically followed an “Information Gathering/Medical Model” of assessment guided by the premise that tests are used to isolate a disease process and initiate treatment. More recently, neuropsychologists have taken a holistic perspective of practice.  A holistic neuropsychological perspective reflects patient-centered care models which emphasize empowering patients and families to improve their health and well being. Patient centered care views illness from a biopsychosocial perspective and emphasizes an egalitarian relationship with a strong working alliance between patient and practitioner (Mead and Bower, 2000). Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment (CTNA) is a patient centered method for conducting a neuropsychological assessment feedback session that enlists patients and family members as collaborators and empowers them to take charge of their cognitive health (Gorske and Smith, 2009).  Evidence suggests neuropsychologists are frequently providing feedback and that the process is viewed as a positive experience by practitioners, patients, and family members (Bennett-Levy, et al., 1994; Donofrio, Piatt, and DiCarlo, 1999; Smith, Wiggins, and Gorske, 2007). Furthermore, patient centered interventions can potentially enhance the working alliance between practitioner and client which has been shown to enhance neuropsychological rehabilitation outcomes (Shonberger, Humle, Zeeman, and Teasdale, 2006). While authors have stated the importance and provided recommendations for providing neuropsychological test feedback, no agreed upon model exists (Gass & Brown, 1992; Malla et al., 1997).  CTNA hopes to fill this gap by providing a framework and methods for giving feedback from neuropsychological test results in a way that is understandable, patient centered, and empowers patients to take an active role in treatment. This workshop will provide the following: a) conceptual foundations of the CTNA approach; b) methods for providing neuropsychological test feedback based on CTNA principles; c) case examples of CTNA sessions; and d) suggestions for further work and research on CTNA applications.  This workshop will not discuss basic methods of neuropsychological interviewing, assessment, and interpretation as it is assumed attendees will be well versed in these procedures.

Learning Objectives:

1.    Participants will understand the value of a holistic CTNA approach for enhancing patient care.

2.    Participants will learn principles and methods of CTNA and be able to incorporate them into practice.

3.    Participants will understand the applications of CTNA in the rehabilitation of different patient populations. 

Registration enquiries and student volunteers

Enquiries have started to come in about registration fees and the conference programme.

CCN Conferences have always aimed to provide a strong conference that is good value for money, and  members of the CCN pay a discounted rate. It is planned that the registration fee for the 3.5 day conference this year will include morning and afternoon teas, lunch on the first 3 days, welcome drinks, attendance to all sessions, and a practical 'Neuropsychology in Action' conference backpack and drink bottle (to facilitate your brain-enhancing walks around Launceston and Tasmania). There may be a small charge for attendance at workshops, but this will be decided when the programme composition is known.

We will not be able to set the registration fees until we have finalised the conference program. However, for the 3.5 days of this year's program, we are confident that the early bird rate for CCN members will be less than the member rates for the APS2011 and College of Clinical Psychology conferences,  (early bird $695 plus >$100 for workshops at APS 2011, and $780 for CClin members at their conference in 2012).

We hope the early-bird  registration fee for CCN student members will be no more than $200 for the whole conference. This compares to $395 for student members of the College of Clinical Psychologists to attend their conference this year, and $310 for APS student members to attend the APS 2011 conference. The CCN student registration fee is heavily discounted, to encourage student participation and presentations which enrich the conference programme with contemporary research and developments in our field, and to facilitate broader student learning from engaging with the wider professional community.

Student volunteers
Students are very important to the CCN - you are the future of our profession! We want you to be involved with our professional community, and the annual conference is one forum where we value your input, through formal presentations and also as volunteers to help make the conference run smoothly.

Student volunteers will be needed at this year's conference, but unlike previous years, the conference is being held in a state without a postgrad neuropsychology program, which have usually supplied resident student volunteers. I've already received several email queries from interested students, which is fantastic! However, to be fair to everyone, we will need to have a formal volunteer selection process.

Before we can call for volunteers, our conference committee will need to consider how many volunteers we need, what we need them to do, and if we will offer them free registration at the conference, or a subsidised registration fee. We will also need to consider the selection criteria - e.g., should we set a cap on the number of students from each course, so that students from each course can have an opportunity to help out and to meet each other and develop a sense of camaraderie?

School holidays are about to start in Tasmania, so we will not be meeting as a committee to discuss these issues until after June 18th. Rest assured that we will be calling for student volunteers in July or August.

Launceston and the Tamar Valley

Two videos about Launceston, one contemporary, one from the National Film and Television Archive in 1966.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Y1RauJmZU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlklnP25_2A

The visitor can decide what has changed in 47 years...

CCN Student Conference Award

The CCN is pleased to offer a student prize to the value of $500 for this year's conference. See details at http://www.psychology.org.au/Content.aspx?ID=3910
There will also be prizes awarded for the best student platform and poster presentations at the conference, as mentioned in the Call for Submissions document.

Submissions portal is open

The call for submissions is available at https://events.psychology.org.au/ei/speakers/Clinical_Neuropsychology_Call_for_Submissions.pdf

We hope to have a full and stimulating conference programme for the discerning clinical neuropsychologist, including several different presentation formats which will allow translation of research evidence to clinical practice at an advanced level.

The online portal for submissions is at  https://events.psychology.org.au/ei/cm.esp?id=1285&pageid=_3FH0L6S7S

We are particularly interested in presentations addressing upcoming and controversial issues in clinical neuropsychology. 

Topics of interest, in alphabetical order, will be added to this post later this evening

Call for submissions - closing date 18 June

Watch this space for the formal call for submissions!

The final proofs have been approved, so we're just waiting for the APS to go live with the submission portal, and to release the final version of the submissions document (hopefully on Monday). The submissions will need to be made via the conference website, at www.groups.psychology.org.au/ccn/events-cpd/conferences

Launceston and the Tamar Valley look beautiful in the submissions document, and we hope that many of you will set aside time to attend the conference and visit this wonderful place.

The photos at the end of this post were taken on a Tamar River luncheon cruise just two weeks ago - a wonderful four-hour cruise up the Tamar, featuring heritage buildings, farmland, vineyards, and our wonderful bushland. There was abundant birdlife, including sea eagles, and even a young seal sleeping by a navigation marker.

In case the location isn't enough to tempt you, think of the programme that we hope to offer this year: clinical neuropsychology papers backed by the most recent research evidence, that put the science of our profession into action.

We're particularly interested in presentations that look at evidence for the efficacy of neuropsychological assessments and interventions (e.g., behaviour management, memory groups, and for patients with complex comorbidities (psychiatric, medical, substance abuse), and the role of neuropsychologists in the community (e.g., community reintegration and interventions), and in less common decision-making contexts like sexuality and testamentary capacity.

We'd be delighted to have a program that educates and informs us on infrequently covered issues like sexuality and brain impairment, informed consent, e-health, ethics, the new driving guidelines, DSM-V, and the new diagnostic guidelines for dementia.

As you'll see when you look at the submissions guidelines, there are several different presentation formats to choose from. So think about submitting a presentation, especially if you haven't done so before - there are over 500 members of the CCN with talents in many areas. Our conference is a chance for you to share your professional passion and expertise with your colleagues.

Finally, in a spirit of community service, we hope to offer a small number of public forums on the last day of the conference for people affected by conditions like TBI and dementia and their carers. There is a great hunger in the community for information about neurobehavioural conditions. If you enjoy educating consumers and other professionals about these areas, please let the committee know via email.

Conference update and FAQs

The formal online submissions will open very soon, once the wonderful APS events and graphic design teams have finished helping us to format it. The deadline for submissions is June 4th, 5 weeks away - this will allow us to get through the blind review process in June, and prepare the programme and online registrations for release in August.

CCN members have been responding to a survey about our conferences, and some of the comments are worth addressing here

1. CPD logging for the Psychology Board of Australia - concern from one member that there won't be time to log the conference as a PD activity by the November 30 deadline.
In reference to the first CPD cycle, the Board states that Psychologists will be required to declare on their (registration) renewal that they have understood and met the requirements of the CPD standard. Submission of the CPD plan, activity log and reflective journal is not required unless selected for an audit.
So if you need CPD points from the conference, and worry about not having time to log it before November 30th, don't worry!

2. Cost of transport to non-capital cities.
Launceston is well-serviced by Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin airways. There are frequent direct flights from Melbourne, and there are also daily direct flights from Sydney and Brisbane.
If you keep your eyes open for special offers, you can often fly one-way from Launceston to Melbourne for less than $80, to Sydney for under $130, and to Brisbane for $200 or less. Our family enjoyed a holiday in Far North Queensland last year for $249 per person (Launceston to Cairns).
For those with a little more time on their hands, who might like to do some driving in this beautiful state, the Spirit of Tasmania sails from Station Pier in Port Melbourne every day, and it can cost as little as $69 to bring your motor vehicle on the crossing.

3. Accommodation options
Launceston has many different accommodation options for different budgets. The ones listed on this blog represent a range of hotels with a good reputation who have offered special deals for conference attendees. There are also backpackers' hostels and other options available, including a range of exquisite B&B and self-catered apartments, so have a look at your favourite accommodation site, and think about linking up with a colleague to share.


4. Places to network with colleagues at the conference venue
The Tramsheds at Inveresk are located in a university/museum/art gallery precinct. Neuropsychologists taking a break from the conference program who would like a comfortable place to sit and chat with colleagues can go to Blue Cafe just at the end of the Tramsheds (www.bluecafebar.com.au), and there is a coffee shop within the museum (museum entry is free). The Phenomenon Factory at the museum is recommended for neuropsychologists to connect with their inner scientist, particularly the bridge through a rolling drum that challenges the most resilient vestibular system. Otherwise, there is plenty of space to walk around the park-like setting at Inveresk, and along the river, for collegial chats coupled with brain-stimulating gentle exercise.

Invited speaker: Alex Troster

The CCN2012 committee is pleased to announce that Dr Alex Troster will be presenting a workshop at our conference.

Dr. Alex Tröster is a Professor and Senior Scientist at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as director of neuropsychology research at the Barrow Center for Neuromodulation.. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology and neuropsychology from the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.

Current research interests include the role of the basal ganglia in cognition, neuropsychology of cognition and emotion in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, and the neuropsychological and quality of life effects of deep brain stimulation and functional neurosurgery. Current projects include the characterization of memory and verbal fluency deficits in Parkinson’s disease and intraoperative stimulation to study the role of basal ganglia in expressive language and predict language changes after deep brain stimulation. Dr. Tröster was also a member of the Movement Disorder Society Task Force that formulated mild cognitive impairment criteria and assessment guidelines for Parkinson’s disease, and he is currently examining the role of MCI in outcomes of neuromodulation.

He is a past recipient of the National Academy of Neuropsychology’s early career achievement award, and that Academy’s award for scientific contributions to clinical neuropsychology. Dr. Tröster has edited a book on memory disorders and authored or co-authored more than 160 scientific and medical journal articles and numerous book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals Neuropsychology, Brain and Cognition, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, and Neuropsychology Review, and as a reviewer for more than 30 other scientific and medical journals. He has been an invited lecturer at meetings in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Tröster belongs to a number of professional societies, including the International Neuropsychological Society, the National Academy of Neuropsychology (fellow), the Movement Disorders Society, the American Psychological Association (fellow), and the American Academy of Neurology. He is Past President of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. He served as the co-chair of the National Academy of Neuropsychology’s Policy and Planning Committee and on the American Psychological Association’s Division of Clinical Neuropsychology Practice Advisory Committee and Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Tröster has served as the chair of the scientific program committee for the National Academy of Neuropsychology twice, and on several committees of the International Neuropsychological Society. He was a member of the National Institutes of Health Workgroup on Cognition and Emotion in Parkinson’s Disease and the Deep Brain Stimulation Consensus Group of the Movement Disorders Society and Congress of Neurosurgeons. He served on the Movement Disorder Society committees for the assessment of psychosis and the assessment of cognition, its Task Force on Mild Cognitive Impairment and on the Parkinson Study Group’s scientific review committee.

Dr. Troster has served as a consultant to several medical device companies, including Medtronic, ANS/St Jude and Boston Scientific, in the design, conduct, and evaluation of deep brain stimulation trials for movement disorders, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders.

CCN job fair

The CCN conference this year will provide a job fair - an opportunity for employers to talk about vacant positions or their health service in general, in order to attract future employees.
Details will follow with the call for submissions (up soon!), so if you have a need for neuropsychologists in your area, particularly regional and rural Australia, think about how you might like to participate. And you can subscribe to the email feed for this blog to receive regular updates.