The Department of Psychology at East Carolina University offers the PhD in Health Psychology. Students who are admitted to the Health Psychology program are specifically selected for one of the three areas of Clinical Health, Pediatric School, or Occupational Health. Students who desire to pursue clinical neuropsychology as a specialty, are admitted into the Clinical Health program, which is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (in Clinical Psychology), with the next site visit to occur in 2019.
The program in clinical health psychology at East Carolina University is structured such that it meets the APA Division 40/Houston Conference Guidelines for doctoral-level training in clinical neuropsychology for students who desire to pursue this pathway. Students who pursue this pathway are primarily mentored by D. Erik Everhart, PhD, ABPP, who is board certified in clinical neuropsychology and board certified in behavioral sleep medicine. There are ample opportunities for training in clinical neuropsychology, as East Carolina University also has an established medical school (Brody School of Medicine) with Departments or Psychiatric Medicine, Rehabilitation, and most recently, Neurology within the Department of Internal Medicine. East Carolina University is also affiliated with Vidant Medical Center, which is a large teaching hospital.
A representative example of the success of
recent clinical neuropsychology students is as follows:
· Alicia Moran, PhD (clinical neuropsychology internship
at University of Florida, postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the
University of
Pittsburgh
Medical Center; now faculty at UPMC)
· Katie Lehockey, PhD, ABPP (clinical neuropsychology
internship at Buffalo VAMC, postdoctoral fellow at MedStar, current training
director in
neuropsychology
fellowships at MedStar NRH in Washington DC)
· Jonathan Highsmith, PhD (clinical
neuropsychology internship at Memphis VAMC, postdoctoral fellow at Southwest
Texas Veterans Healthcare System in San Antonio, TX, Supervisor at STVHCS)
· Eric Watson, PhD (clinical neuropsychology internship
at Mount Sinai Hospital, postdoctoral fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital,
Instructor in Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital)
·
Ansley Corson,
PhD (clinical neuropsychology internship at Salem VAMC; current postdoctoral
fellow at Salem VAMC)
·
Emmi Peel, PhD
(clinical neuropsychology internship at Salem VAMC; postdoctoral fellowship at
Medical University of South Carolina)
Other students
from Dr. Everhart’s laboratory (not neuropsychology):
· James Loveless, PhD (internship at Augusta University/Charlie
Norwood VAMC Consortium; postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at the
University of Virginia; Assistant Professor at Middle Tennessee State
University).
Coursework in
Neuropsychology or related:
P: Consent of chair. Basic procedures for assessment and intervention of neuropsychological syndromes in children.
P: Consent of chair. Research, theory, and basic procedures for assessment of neuropsychological syndromes in adults.
May be repeated with change of topic for a maximum of 6 s.h. P: Minimum of 9 s.h. in PSYC. Selected topics at advanced level. Topics vary. This section is devoted to discussion and study of neuro phenomenon including atypical clinical neuropsychological syndromes such as agnosia, apraxia, alexia, aphasia, neglect, anosognosia.
Introduction to the process of cognitive assessment and the administration, scoring, and interpretation of major
intelligence tests.
P: Consent of chair. Advanced study of research and theories on neural mediation of behavior and cognitive functions.
P: Consent of chair. Biological explanation for behavior and mental processes (physiological, ontogenetic, evolutionary, and functional).
P: Consent of chair. Research and theory in cognition. Research and theory in cognition. Attention, memory, imagery, language, conceptual behavior, and problem solving.
May be repeated. May count a maximum of 12 s.h. 1 hour seminar and 8 hours lab per week. P: Consent of chair. Recently published research and participation in ongoing research.
P: Consent of chair. Behavioral and neurophysiological effects of psychoactive drugs in experimental animal and clinical populations.
· Neuropathology: Weekly brain cuttings and histopathology, supervised by Don Price, MD
· Neurology Grand Rounds (various topics)
· Psychiatry Grand Rounds (various topics)
· Neuroscience Journal Café (various topics)
· Neuroscience Symposium (annual)
Association for Neuropsychology Students in
Training (ANST):
East Carolina University also has a local chapter of Div 40’s Association for Neuropsychology Students in Training (ANST) that students may elect to participate in. The website is located here: http://ecuanst.weebly.com