|
This postdoctoral training experience is divided into 60 percent clinical service, and 40 percent research and didactics throughout the course of the two-year program.
Clinical service activities are devoted exclusively to neuropsychological assessment and evaluation for the first six months of fellowship. After the first six months, clinical training beyond neuropsychological assessment is available through elective rotations.
Clinical Training
Patients in the clinical neuropsychology service present with a variety of adult neurocognitive disorders, including:
- Degenerative brain diseases
- Cerebrovascular disorders
- Infectious diseases
- Autoimmune and rheumatologic conditions
- Epileptic and non-epileptic seizure disorders
- Psychiatric conditions
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- Neoplastic disorders
- Neurosurgical conditions
- General Medical Conditions Affecting Behavior and Cognition
- Learning disability/attention deficit disorder
There are many opportunities to learn about the cognitive, behavioral and emotional symptoms of neurological and complex medical illnesses, and to become involved in treatment formulation, recommendations, and patient/family education. Training in the Wada procedure for presurgical epilepsy patients is also available.
The Division of Psychology is staffed by a team of psychometrists who are available to assist fellows who have demonstrated competence in test administration and scoring. All cases are supervised by a licensed psychologist. Consultation is also readily available with specialists in neurology, psychiatry, sleep disorders, neuroradiology, neurosurgery, and neuropathology.
Elective Clinical Training
Opportunities in personality assessment, outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy, rehabilitation psychology, and behavioral medicine assessment and intervention techniques are available as electives within the Division of Psychology. These electives provide training in the evaluation and treatment of patients with:
- Cancer
- Chronic pain
- Anxiety disorders
- Depression
- Weight management problems
- Nicotine dependence
- Stress
- Sleep disturbances
- Seizures of non-epileptic origin
- Adjustment to neurological conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Participation in caregiver education and support groups, as well as elective rotations in various medical specialties outside of Psychology are also available. These include rotations in behavioral neurology, movement disorders, epilepsy, neuro-oncology, neuropathology, neuroradiology, neuropsychiatry, neurophysiology, pain medicine, and sleep disorder clinic.
Off-site Rotations (optional)
Clinical neuropsychology fellows have the opportunity to spend one month training on-site with the neuropsychology faculty at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. or Scottsdale, Ariz. The off-site rotation is available to provide additional training opportunities commensurate with the individual training goals of the fellow.
Mayo Clinic funds the authorized costs of travel, housing and auto rental fees associated with this rotation.
Evaluation
Fellows receive on-going informal feedback regarding progress in achieving and demonstrating competence in professional practice, research and ethical standards. Formal progress reports during fellowship are reviewed with fellows every six months.
Didactics
Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, research center meetings and one-on-one instruction are all an integral part of the Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship Program. In addition, Mayo Clinic neuropsychologists from all three campuses (Jacksonville, Rochester, Scottsdale) meet twice monthly via video-conferencing satellite for didactic and case study presentations. Periodically, fellows participate in mock fact-finding exercises during this meeting, as part of their preparation for the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN) examination process.
Other organized didactic experiences available to Neuropsychology Fellows include the Behavioral Neurology Seminar Series, Neuroscience Lecture Series, Neurology and Neurosurgery Grand Rounds, Neurosurgery Case Conference, Sleep Disorders Case Conference, Brain Cutting, Neuropathology Conference, Medical Grand Rounds, and a formal neuroanatomy course that is telecast via satellite from Mayo Clinic in Rochester. There are also opportunities to join neuropsychology faculty in a variety of clinical care conferences and team meetings which include Epilepsy Case Conference, the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Clinic, and Mayo’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Case Conference.
Fellows meet with program faculty regularly throughout the fellowship to review individualized training goals and identify and prioritize the didactic experiences that best facilitate those goals.
Research Training
As a Neuropsychology fellow, you will organize and carry out at least one independent neuropsychological research project during the two-year fellowship. It is expected that research activity will culminate in presentation at a national conference and publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Research opportunities are available through Mayo Clinic's NIA-funded Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Centers, state-funded Memory Disorders Clinic, and a variety of clinical programs such as Mayo Clinic's Sleep Disorders Clinic, Multiple Sclerosis Clinic, the Laboratory for Acute Neurological Injury, Cancer Center, Organ Transplant Program and Epilepsy Surgery Program.
You will be encouraged to collaborate with others on additional research projects as time permits.
Also see:
|
