Welcome to the University of Colorado’s Department of Family Medicine.

1. To educate trainees about the cognitive and psychological functioning of patients with chronic medical or neurologic disease.
2. To teach trainees the administration and interpretation of a brief neuropsychological assessment battery.
3. To teach trainees to communicate neuropsychological test results to patients and referring physicians.

1. The psychology trainee will be trained to administer and score a standardized neuropsychological assessment battery that includes measures of intellectual functioning, attention and information processing speed, executive functioning, learning and memory, language skills, visuospatial skills, and motor functioning. Brief psychological screening measures for depression and anxiety will also be administered.
2. The psychology trainee will learn to administer a detailed neuro-medical interview with a specific focus on prior medical and neurologic illness, head injury, medication use, academic functioning and learning difficulties, social and occupational functioning, substance abuse, and psychiatric history.
3. The psychology trainee will learn to document and communicate relevant behavioral observations from the neuropsychological assessment.
4. The psychology trainee will learn to write a concise interpretative neuropsychological report that includes background information, behavioral observations, neuropsychological and psychological test results, as well as summary and treatment recommendations.
5. The psychology trainee will participate in feedback sessions with individual patients regarding neuropsychological test results, including summary and recommendations.

Neuropsychological assessments: Each intern will receive basic training in the administration, scoring, interpretation, and reporting of the neuropsychological assessment. Time devoted to each activity will vary as a function of the intern’s experience, but each intern will be expected to independently complete two full neuropsychological assessments (including administration scoring, interpretation, report writing, and feedback) by the end of the six-month rotation.

Supervision: Each intern will be supervised by faculty and staff in the UCH Neuropsychology Clinic in all aspects of their training. Weekly supervision meetings with faculty will serve as a forum to learn about general neuropsychological assessment issues, specific aspects of medical or neurologic illness relevant to patients the intern has seen, interpretation of neuropsychological test data, and communication of test results.

Feedback sessions: The intern will be supervised in the feedback of neuropsychological test results and recommendations to individual patients.

The UCH Neuropsychology Clinic aims to provide assessment of brain function in a diverse patient population with neurological (e.g., dementia, epilepsy, brain tumor, traumatic brain injury) disease or injury. Neuropsychological assessment batteries are tailored to the individual needs of the patient and the referral question.

The UCH Neuropsychology Clinic serves adults over the age of 18 with a wide variety of medical and neurologic illnesses. Referrals are received from throughout the University of Colorado clinics and University of Colorado Hospital, particularly those in neurosurgery and neurology, as well as community physicians.

The intern will receive supervision for all aspects of the neuropsychological evaluation. This includes the administration and scoring of the neuropsychological battery, interpretation, and report writing. Supervision will occur on site from faculty and staff of the UCH Neuropsychology Clinic.

Supervisor areas of expertise include neuropsychological assessment of persons with dementia and other neurologic illness, with a focus on pre- and post-surgery assessment of neurosurgical populations (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, normal pressure hydrocephalus, etc).

Michael R. Greher, PhD, ABPP-CN (Clinical Psychology University of North Texas, 2003) Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Brian D. Hoyt, PhD, ABPP-CN (Clinical Psychology/Neuropsychology, University of Houston, 2001) Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Thomas R. Wodusheck, PhD, ABPP-CN (Clinical Psychology University of North Texas, 2003) Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology, University of Colorado School of Medicine