 WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE FOR
THE UAB CHAPTER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
STUDENTS IN TRAINING (ANST)
The American Psychological Association has a Neuropsychology Division (Division 40), which in turn sponsors a graduate student organization called the Association for Neuropsychology Students in Training (ANST). This site is the home of the University of Alabama-Birmingham ANST chapter. ANST is critical to students of clinical neuropsychology as it acts as a platform for discussion, is a source of valuable resources and services, and provides a voice for students in training.
The UAB ANST chapter was established in 2008 and continues to strive to the goals and ideals of the national organization. Our faculty sponsor is Dr. Paul Blanton, a clinical neuropsychologist from the Birmingham VA Medical Center. UAB ANST meets twice per month, unless otherwise specified. We have Monthly Meetings with topics ranging from informational, current issues being debated in the field, and education and training. We also have Monthly Events to promote resources and activities on campus, in our community, and at the national/international levels. We hope for our chapter to serve to orient new graduate students to the wealth of neuropsychology opportunities around UAB and Birmingham, as well as promote dialogue, collegiality, and act as a support system for existing students of neuropsychology.
Please feel free to have a look around the site and we welcome new members and new ideas at all meetings! Check out our student board, located on the second floor of Campbell Hall, right around the corner past the Med Psych Office. Students and trainees at all levels, including undergraduates, are welcome to attend all meetings and events!
Jacquelynn N. Copeland, MA
UAB ANST student co-representative
Josie M. Tyrer, BA
UAB ANST student co-representative
Paul Blanton, PhD
Neuropsychologist, Birmingham VA Medical Center
UAB ANST Faculty Sponsor
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Student SpotlightUAB ANST
Student Spotlight
Spring 2012
Donna Murdaugh!
 What year student are you?
This is my third year in the med psych program.
Where were you born?
Natchez, Mississippi
At what school did you complete your undergraduate degree?
UAB
What are your clinical Interests?
I am primarily interested in pediatrics in the medical setting, specifically within neurology and neuro-oncology . In addition, I am interested in developmental disorders. I think that neuropsychology plays a larger role than ever before in diagnosing and differentiated between types of developmental disorders in order to inform treatment and long term prognosis. What are your research interests? I currently work on clinical translational neuroimaging studies in both adults and children with aurtism spectrum disorders. In particular, I am interested in how language intervention can shape both functional and anatomical changes in the brain in language-delayred children with autism. I am also interested in the default mode network, or the "resting" brain, in children and adults with autism. My focus is on the overlap of the default network and Theory-of-Mind processes, and how this may translate into the behavioral symptoms in autism. What are some recent accomplishments? My masters thesis was just recently published (Murdaugh et al., 2012) in Neuroimage. Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded the UAB CIRC Research Grant for Emerging Scholars in Developmental Disabilities for my proposed dissertation study title "Impact of Visualization Language Intervention on Brain Activation and Connectivity in Autism." I have also recently won a number of local and international poster awards for my neuroimaging research. This past June I was awarded to Trainee Abstract Award for my poster and oral presentation titled, "Altered functional deactivation and connectivity in the "resting brain" in autism" at the Organization of Human Brain Mapping annual meeting (Quebec City, Canada), which was a huge honor. What is your favorite neuropsychology memory? A few years ago I saw my first inpatient non-epileptic (psychosocial stress induced) seizure in a young child. I was then able to go back and look at the EEG recording matched to the video of the seizure and observe no visible brain disturbances. In this child's case, neuropsychology can accomplish what seizure medication cannot. This single case was what solidified my interest in pediatric neuropsychology
Who is your "rock star" neuropsychologist? Dr. Avi Madan-Swain, a pediatric neuropsychology who has established a program within the UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology that really has integrated neuropsychology into a medical team setting in such a way that is unprecedented in a majority of children's hospitals. She has made neuropsychology a necessary part of the patient's cancer treatment and has really campaigned for neuropsychology's role in all stages of cancer treatment and recovery for both the patient and the family. You heard the word "neuropsychology" and you immediately think... ...about the brochure that Division 40 put out to educate parents on what a pediatric neuropsychologist is. I have probably emailed this brochure to my entire extended family, all my parents' friends, as well as my friends from high school and college who have all asked me at some point "What's a neuropsychologist?" |