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.

Student and other initiatives at the conference

Students have always been important at CCN conferences.

In 2012, we are planning a number of events and programme items to support students and new graduates, and to showcase their research.

Initiatives under consideration include:

- Student Case Presentations - a session where students can present their cases in a supportive session facilitated by senior clinical neuropsychologists.

- Controversies in Clinical Neuropsychology - this will be an opportunity for students to present the most up-to-date information and controversies from their research projects. We figure that students are immersed in the most recent research in a whole range of areas across the lifespan. They're often even more up-to-date than their supervisors. Giving students (and recent graduates) the opportunity to present a controversies and recent developments that they have identified in their research will update the knowledge of those of us who studied long, or not so long, ago, and will also allow discussion and sharing of ideas and references related to the field of study. Research findings could then be shared in the poster session, potentially allowing the student two abstracts in the conference proceedings. Note: this session is not intended to merely be students presenting the rationale for their research projects. Rather, it is an opportunity for them to share with the CCN community important issues that they have identified during their research. Just as presenting research findings at conferences can help students in preparing their theses, this session may even help in preparation of literature reviews for publication as stand-alone articles...

- Speed Mentoring (idea courtesy of APA Division 40). The idea is to allow students and new grads to ask experienced clinicians about their work, careers, advice. The clinician sits at a table, the students gather around and ask their own questions, or listen to answers.

- Interest Group Forums. This is intended to get neuropsychologists together with others who work in similar areas (e.g., paeds, forensic, geriatric, rehab, general neurology, psychiatry) to discuss the state of the affairs. It is hoped that in addition to providing peer supervision PD for the Psychology Board's requirements and networking opportunities, this will allow practitioners to identify areas where the CCN can develop resources such as tip sheets, brochures, position statements, or practice guidelines.

As usual, student submissions for platform presentations and posters based on their research findings will be welcomed, although the committee may have to limit the number of platform presentations depending on the content of the entire program.

The success of these sessions will depend on the participation of college delegates.

So if you are a student or new graduate with a wonderful literature review to share, think about submitting an abstract when we call for them in January. And share the link to this blog with your friends - http://ccn2012.blogspot.com

And if you're a senior clinician who'd like to share their wisdom and experience on a mentoring table, let me know by email (fiona.bardenhagen@gmail.com).

Invited speaker: Tad Gorske

The committee has been busy arranging invitations for speakers from overseas. While details for all speakers are not yet finalized, we are very happy to announce that Dr Tad Gorske has agreed to give two workshops at our conference next year. The first workshop will be on Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment, and the second will be on Motivational Interviewing. Tad's details follow below:

Tad T. Gorske, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania and is the Director of Outpatient Neuropsychology in the Division of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine. Dr. Gorske specializes in the neuropsychological assessment of patients with traumatic and acquired brain injuries. He also has specializations in Addiction Medicine, dual diagnosis, and severe mental illness. He is the primary author, with co-author Dr. Steven Smith, of Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment (CTNA). CTNA is a patient centered method of providing feedback from neuropsychological assessment measures design to educate about neuropsychological concepts, enhance clinician-patient collaboration, and enhance motivation to follow through with treatment goals. Dr. Gorske has published in the areas of addiction, dual diagnosis, neuropsychology, and motivational interviewing.

Keep an eye on this blog for future announcements regarding invited speakers and the conference program.

Introduction

This blog is intended to provide information on the 18th Annual Conference of the APS College of Clinical Neuropsychologists.

The conference will be held from Thursday, November 22nd, to Sunday, November 25th, 2012. The venue will be the Tramsheds in Inveresk, on the banks of the North Esk River in Launceston. This is the first time a CCN conference has been held in Tasmania, and it gives us great pleasure to host it in Launceston, Australia's third-oldest city.

The theme of the conference is Neuropsychology in Action, and the conference program is being planned to ensure a range of professional development activities that will challenge and inspire all neuropsychologists to move to new heights in their clinical, training, and research endeavours.

We hope to provide stimulating workshops, symposia, and scientific presentations that will update neuropsychologists' knowledge and skills in a range of areas across the lifespan. We are also planning a number of innovative sessions to support students and early-career neuropsychologists undergoing the registrar program, in addition to formal and informal networking opportunities for neuropsychologists working in different specialty areas around Australia.

Separate entries with details of the accommodation, invited speakers, and calls for submissions, so subscribe to email updates from this blog if you want to stay informed.


Fiona Bardenhagen, Conference Chair, CCN 2012

PS. The hotels we're listing have given special rates for the conference, so check them out and book early to avoid disappointment