Curriculum

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP/RESIDENCY IN CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

Program Overview:

Background: The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Clinical Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship/Residency program was established in 1990s and is housed within the UIC College of Medicine/UI Health Department of Psychiatry’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. Neil H. Pliskin, Ph.D., ABPP is the director of the Neuropsychology Program, which includes three adult and one lifespan neuropsychologists. The postdoctoral training director is Jason R. Soble, Ph.D., ABPP. The division also includes two postdoctoral fellows as well as numerous psychometrists, externs/practicum students, and dedicated administrative support staff.

Program Description: The UIC Clinical Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship/Residency program is a full-time, two-year fellowship in an academic medical center setting. The program has been a member of the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN) since 2002. The UIC Neuropsychology Service serves adults and children with a catchment area ranging from the Chicagoland area to the borders of our neighboring states of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana. Our service provides comprehensive clinical care to all patients by evaluating cognitive, psychological, and functional complaints, clarifying differential diagnostic considerations, informing and directing treatment/rehabilitation planning, and providing pre/post-neurosurgical intervention (e.g., cerebral bypass; resection surgery), alongside our colleagues in Psychiatry, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Transplant, and General and Specialty Medicine. We frequently receive referrals from external sources, including outside physicians/hospitals, schools, and other agencies, including the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services and multiple state consent decrees. The fellowship is a lifespan program, with opportunities to provide timely and high-quality neuropsychological evaluation to children, adolescents, and adults with various neuromedical and neuropsychiatric conditions and/or complaints. The pediatric arm of the program currently receives referrals from select disciplines, including the Pediatric Neurology, Genetics, Hematology/Oncology, and Sickle Cell Clinics. In addition, neuropsychologists provide intracarotid sodium methohexital testing (Wada testing) to lateralize language and memory prior to epilepsy surgery. Opportunities for exposure to forensic/medicolegal work may also be incorporated into the fellowship. Fellows receive supervised experience to facilitate advanced competency in test selection, administration, scoring, and interpretation, case/diagnostic conceptualization, writing integrative neuropsychological evaluation reports using a broad range of tests and procedures, and communication of test results to patients, family members, and referral sources, as well as working with trainees to develop a professional identity as a clinical supervisor.

Program Mission: The primary objective of the fellowship training program is to provide specialty training in clinical neuropsychology to doctoral-level psychologists in order to ensure that they have sufficiently developed the clinical and research competencies necessary for independent practice, with the secondary objectives of facilitating their licensure and eventual American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) board certification in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Entry Requirements: Successful completion of an American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited doctoral education and training program, including completion of a predoctoral internship program with substantial training in clinical neuropsychology. Candidates who have not successfully defended their dissertation prior to the beginning of the fellowship will not be considered.

Program Structure:
The UIC Neuropsychology Service offers two-year postdoctoral fellowships in adult neuropsychology, with the opportunity for lifespan training experiences. The postdoctoral fellowship program provides experiential training, which will further cultivate and refine the foundational knowledge and competencies our fellows have acquired during their graduate and internship training experiences. Specific program objectives are listed below:

1. Development of advanced understanding of brain-behavior relationships via clinical and didactic training experiences.
2. Development of advanced skill in evidence-based neuropsychological evaluation of patients, and consultation to both patients and multidisciplinary professionals sufficient to practice on an independent basis.
3. Co-facilitation of the Inpatient Neuropsychology Consultation Service for provision of evidence-based neuropsychological evaluation of inpatients based on referrals from other hospital-based services.
4. Development of advanced administrative competency in operating a productive clinical neuropsychology service within an academic medical center setting.
5. Scholarly productivity (e.g., submission of an empirical study for publication).
6. Pedagogical activities (e.g., co-teaching/facilitation of the neuropsychology-specific didactic seminars [see below for more information]; completion of a medical neuroanatomy course).
7. Development of professional supervision competency by providing tiered supervision of clinical and research activities with psychology interns and externs, supervision of neuropsychology technicians, supervision of medical students/residents, and participation in weekly professional development supervision with the postdoctoral training director.
8. Development of foundational to advanced multicultural competency in the provision of clinical neuropsychological service delivery through direct patient care with culturally and linguistically diverse patients, reducing barriers to healthcare access, and skillful use of culturally sensitive and informed assessment methods, including but not limited to culturally and linguistically appropriate test selection and interpretation, use of trained interpreter services, and universal assessment of social determinants of health.

Clinical Training Experiences: UIC has a single Neuropsychology Service that houses all of the faculty neuropsychologists and provides neuropsychological consultation services for all departments within the UI Health System. This affords fellows with wide-ranging and rich training opportunities to comprehensively evaluate the full range of neurological, neuromedical, and neuropsychiatric conditions, including but not limited to dementia/neurodegenerative conditions, cerebrovascular disorders, rare neurosurgical populations (e.g., moyamoya disease), tumor, infectious diseases, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, acquired brain injury, organ failure/transplant populations, systemic medical conditions, ADHD, learning disabilities, developmental disorders, select pediatric conditions (e.g., rare genetic disorders; sickle cell disease; pediatric hematology/oncology) and complex psychiatric conditions. The fellow’s primary role is to participate in provision of clinical services in the Adult Outpatient Neuropsychology Clinic and co-facilitate the Neuropsychology Inpatient Consultation Service throughout the duration of the fellowship program. Within the primary Outpatient Neuropsychology Clinic, additional opportunities exist to tailor the specific clinical training experience(s) to the fellow’s specialty interests/needs (e.g., recent fellows have elected to focus a portion of their clinical training in epilepsy and memory disorders). UIC is urban, community-based hospital/medical center that serves the people of Chicago and surrounding communities. Our patient population is multiculturally diverse with a substantial portion coming from areas that have been systematically under-resourced and socio-economically disadvantaged. Within this context, fellows have ample opportunities to gain competency in provision of neuropsychological services to culturally and linguistically diverse patients.

The typical clinical caseload consists of 3-4 outpatient evaluations and 1-3 inpatient evaluations per week, although this requirement will be reduced during the 3-month Medical Neuroanatomy Course during the first year. Opportunities for minor elective rotations are available and can be arranged based on fellow research and/or clinical interests (see below for additional information). On average, three days (60%) of the fellow’s week typically are spent engaged in providing direct clinical service, including assessment, supervision, and treatment activities. The remaining two days (40%) are spent in research, educational, and administrative activities.

Elective Minor Rotations:
In addition to the core/major training experiences in the Adult Outpatient Neuropsychology Clinic and Inpatient Neuropsychology Consultation Service, fellows typically complete elective minor rotations during both years of the fellowship. On elective minor rotations, fellows will rotate/round with attending neurologists, neurosurgeons, and/or (neuro)psychiatrists on service (inpatient and outpatient) in order to gain more in-depth knowledge and in-vivo exposure to various clinical populations/conditions of interest. The timing and duration of specific minor rotations vary and will be negotiated during each year of the fellowship based on rotation availability and the fellow’s learning objectives. Examples (non-exhaustive listing) of possible minor rotations are as follows:

UIC Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology

• Neurology Bedside Rounds
• Neuropsychiatry Consultation Rounds
• Epilepsy Clinic (inpatient/outpatient)
• Multidisciplinary Memory Center
• Other Specialty Neurology Clinics (e.g., neuro-oncology, movement disorders)
• Adult Sickle Cell Clinic

Jesse Brown VA Medical Center

• Minor rotations are available through the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center for fellows interested in the provision of neuropsychological services with veteran populations, including Behavioral Neurology and Movement Disorder clinics.

Research Opportunities:
Research is an essential component of this fellowship, with fellows expected to devote a substantial portion of their fellowship time to take advantage of the rich research opportunities provided within the educational and research programs of the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology. It is expected that fellows will submit two first-authored manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication (typically one per year) during their fellowship. This can be accomplished through a variety of means ranging from archival studies to involvement within current research protocols. In addition to engaging in independent research, it is expected that fellows also will actively supervise/mentor interested externs/junior trainees in the research process. Some of the available research opportunities/active datasets are detailed below (this list is non-exhaustive):

• Performance and Symptom Validity Assessment:
  This research program is devoted to understanding the psychometric and diagnostic accuracy of performance validity tests (PVTs) and Symptom Validity Tests (SVTs), particularly in the context of complex medical and neuropsychiatric patient populations.
• Neuropsychological Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD):
  This research program is devoted to investigating the cognitive and emotional/behavioral sequelae of ADHD, particularly among undergraduate and graduate/professional students, but also among community referrals. A standardized battery of neuropsychological and psychodiagnostic test data are available with this clinical population.
• Social Determinants of Health in Neuropsychological Evaluations:
  This research program is devoted to investigating the role of social determinants of health, ranging from health literacy and numeracy to adverse childhood experiences, on the neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric functioning of nearly all patients referred to the Adult Outpatient Neuropsychology Clinic.
• Memory Disorders Clinic Database:
  This research program is devoted to evaluating older adults with primary memory complaints and the contribution of medical, psychiatric, and psychosocial factors to their functional cognition and independence. All patients receive a standardized core battery, including informant reports/inventories, functional/adaptive measures, social determinants of health, and other metrics of biopsychosocial wellbeing.
• Neuropsychological Effects of Electrical Injury:
  This research program is devoted to clarifying the biological mechanisms that underlie neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric changes seen following electrical injury. Clinical, psychiatric, and neuropsychological data have been collected on over 150 electrical injury patients. Fellows are welcome to engage in archival studies of this database or become involved in the current clinical research protocol.
• Vascular Neurosurgery Database:
  This research program is devoted to understanding the neuropsychological sequelae of patients with moyamoya disease and other complex neurovascular disorders, as well as evaluating cognitive and neurobehavioral outcomes pre-/post-neurosurgical intervention (i.e., cerebral bypass).
• Epilepsy Neurosurgery Database
  This research program is devoted to understanding the neuropsychological sequelae of English- and Spanish-speaking patients with epilepsy, as well as evaluating cognitive and neurobehavioral outcomes pre-/post-neurosurgical intervention. Additional opportunities for involvement in clinical research protocols may be available.
• COVID-19 Database
  This research program is devoted to understanding the constellation of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional sequelae of patients with persistent complaints following COVID-19 infection (long-COVID). Patients are referred and complete a standardized neurocognitive test battery, as well as psychological and behavioral self-report measures. Additional opportunities for involvement in larger, COVID-related clinical research protocols/initiatives with other stakeholders across the medical center may be available.
• Chronic Pain Database
  This ongoing research program aims to explore neurocognitive and psychological factors associated with chronic pain conditions. Data primarily are collected from patients referred for pre-neurosurgical evaluation to assist in identifying any neurocognitive and/or psychological contraindications as part of their spinal cord stimulator candidacy.
• Transplant Health and Neuropsychology Database
  This research program aims to investigate neurocognitive, medical, psychological, and social determinants of health factors among patients with end stage organ failure (liver, kidney, pancreas, small bowel) under evaluation for transplant surgery. Data primarily are collected from patients referred for presurgical evaluation to assist with identifying any neurocognitive and/or psychological contraindications as part of their multidisciplinary workup for transplant candidacy. The dataset includes both inpatient and outpatient evaluations.

Educational Activities:

- Seminars:

• Neuropsychology Case Conference
• Fundamentals of Clinical Neuropsychology
• Functional Neuroanatomy
• Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds (as schedule permits)
• Department of Neurology Grand Rounds (as schedule permits)

- Academic Course:

• Medical Neuroanatomy (~January - March during Year 1)

Teaching/Training Requirements:
The fellow will make regular teaching contributions to the weekly Neuropsychology Seminars and facilitate the Functional Neuroanatomy series. Fellows also co-facilitate didactic trainings for psychiatry residents on neuropsychology-specific topics. Moreover, UIC Neuropsychology has a large yearly extern/practicum training program, which recruits doctoral student from clinical and counseling psychology programs throughout the Chicagoland area (we typically accept 10-15 externs annually). As such, there are ample opportunities for supervision of psychology interns and/or advanced externs to facilitate development of advanced supervision competency.

Supervision:
The fellow will meet weekly with the fellowship training director for professional development supervision. There are also at least five hours of structured educational activities per week, including group supervision as outlined above.

Fellowship Exit Criteria:

1. Formal evaluation of competency at the end of the fellowship indicates advanced skill in neuropsychological evaluation, treatment, and consultation.
2. State licensure or certification for the independent practice of psychology.
3. Eligibility for board certification in clinical neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Additional Fellowship Information:

• Fellowship Start Date: July 16th
• A later start date can be arranged if an incoming fellow’s internship ends later than July 1st.
• Fellowship Duration: 2 years
• Fellowship Salary: $52,000 per year
• Fellows also have access to subsidized health/dental insurance and retirement contributions

Fellowship Application Information:
Interested applicants should email the following to Jason Soble, PhD, ABPP (Neuropsychology Fellowship Training Director) at sobleuic [dot] edu

• Letter of Interest
• CV
• Three letters of recommendation (letter writers should email these directly to Dr. Soble)

The deadline for receipt of all application materials is December 15th.