2023 Award Recommendations

Now Open to Submit | Deadline March 1

The time has come for us to recognize the contributions of our colleagues in NAN who have provided exceptional services to neuropsychology. We are soliciting recommendations for the following:

  • Reitan Clinical Excellence Award
  • Early Career Award
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award
  • Tony Wong Diversity Awards

NEW in 2023! Excellence in Advocacy Award: Awarded to an individual who has exhibited dedication and excellence in advocacy for neuropsychology as a science and practice. The recipient of this award has engaged with decision-makers and other stakeholders outside of neuropsychology to promote brain science and inspire change, beneficially raising the public awareness of the practice of neuropsychology.

NAN members of every level are eligible and encouraged to make recommendations for Awards. Self-recommendations are accepted as well.

SUBMIT RECOMMENDATIONS 

2022 Award Recipients & Honorees

 

Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology Award

NAN’s most prestigious award is given to a senior scholar who has made significant scientific, intellectual, and training-related contributions to the field of neuropsychology. Recipients give an invited address at the Annual Conference, which is subsequently published in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS


2022 Recipient | Professor Elizabeth Warrington, Ph.D. 

Professor Warrington's research has focused on understanding, in the broadest terms, brain and behaviour relationships, and, in particular, the neural basis of our cognitive abilities -- how our neural networks enable us to see, perceive, remember and talk about things. Understanding how these networks are organised helps in diagnosing and assessing many different kinds of brain injury. Her work has also been influential in testing theories about cognitive psychology. Professor Warrington has played a key role in improving the accuracy of tests to diagnose and help chart the progress of degenerative brain conditions that affect the way we perceive, talk or think about things. Her work in defining differences in how we remember information based on knowledge (semantic memory) as opposed to events (episodic memory) led to the identification of a new neurological condition, semantic dementia, which she first described in 1975. Professor Warrington is a Fellow of the Royal Society.

 

Distinguished Service Award

This award is designed to recognize NAN’s most dedicated leaders who have a longstanding career of exemplary and distinguished service to NAN and neuropsychology in general. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS  
 

2022 Recipient |  Cheryl H. Silver, Ph.D. 

Dr. Silver is a pediatric neuropsychologist and former professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.  She retired from the medical center in 2017 but remained on the volunteer faculty, and opened a private practice. Her responsibilities at the medical center included administrative functions, classroom teaching, supervision, clinical practice, and research activities.  Dr. Silver joined NAN as a graduate student.  She initially offered her services to NAN on the Membership Committee and subsequently served on the Awards Committee.  She was elected to the office of Member-At-Large in 1995.  She was a member of the Policy and Planning Committee for 10 years, back in the day when that particular group was like Hotel California – you can check out but you can never leave!  Dr. Silver joined the Women in Leadership Committee in 2009 and became its chair in 2012, a role she enjoyed immensely.  She was elected to the office of NAN President in 2018.  As Past-President, Dr. Silver was a liaison to the Culture and Diversity Committee, for which she also served as Interim Chair.

Reitan Clinical Excellence Award

NAN's newest award is given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the clinical practice of neuropsychology. The recipients of this award have significantly influenced the methods, settings, and/or persons involved in clinical practice, resulting in noteworthy benefit to the profession and its clients; and/or demonstrated significant leadership as a teacher, clinician, and/or theorist in public and/or professional arenas of clinical neuropsychology; and/or had a notable effect on clinical practice or training in the field of clinical neuropsychology. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS 

2022 Recipient | C. Munro Cullum, Ph.D. 

Dr. Cullum is a Clinical Neuropsychologist who specializes in the assessment of cognitive disorders. He is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology (ABPP/ABCN) and serves as the Vice Chair and Chief of the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, where he holds the Pamela Blumenthal Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Psychology. He is the PI of the Concussion-Texas (ConTex) studies, serves as the Scientific Director of the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium (TARCC), and is the Clinical Core leader in the UTSW Alzheimer's Disease Center. He is a past president of the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the incoming President of the Sports Neuropsychology Society. He is actively involved in research, teaching, and clinical practice in neuropsychology. His research includes investigations into short- and long-term effects of concussion and early detection and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative conditions of aging. His clinical research lab is also involved in cognitive test development and in telemedicine applications of neuropsychology.

Early Career Award

This award is given to someone who has made substantial scholarly contributions to the field of neuropsychology within 10 years of receiving their doctoral degree. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS

2022 Recipient | Christian LoBue, PhD 

Christian LoBue, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurological Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. As a clinical neuropsychologist, he researches the later-in-life effects of traumatic brain injury, which involves the potential risk associated with developing dementia and the underlying biological pathways. He also studies the implications of neuromodulation on neuropsychological deficits in dementia syndromes. He has received research funding from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Department of Defense, and multiple foundations. In addition to his research, he serves as a clinician and evaluates a wide-range of suspected or known neurobehavioral syndromes in both outpatient and inpatient settings. He specializes in assessment and management of behaviors related to concussion, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, cerebrovascular disorders, and brain tumor.

Early Career Service Award

This award is designed for someone who is within 10 years of receiving their doctoral degree and who has made substantial early career service contributions to NAN and the field of neuropsychology in general. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS

2022 Recipient | Victoria C. Merritt, Ph.D. 

Dr. Victoria Merritt earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. She completed her internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS)/University of California San Diego (UC San Diego). She is currently a Research Health Scientist at the VASDHS and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. Dr. Merritt’s research interests include examining risk and protective factors associated with clinical outcome and recovery following concussion/traumatic brain injury (TBI). She has focused additional research efforts on studying the neurocognitive consequences of concussion/TBI and elucidating the acute and chronic effects of TBI across the lifespan by incorporating the tools and techniques of biological markers such as genetics to study the processes that underlie recovery following TBI. She has been actively involved in neuropsychology professional organizations since graduate school, serving on a variety of committees within NAN and other organizations. She currently is Chair of the NAN Education Committee and is a Member of the NAN LEAD Task Force.

 

 

Nelson Butters Award 

This award is given for the best research paper published in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology over the preceding year. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS

2022 Recipient | Adam Chase Parks, PhD, ABPP-CN |  Validity of In-Home Teleneuropsychological Testing in the Wake of COVID-19
Adam Parks, PhD, ABPP is a Clinical Neuropsychologist at the University of Kansas Health System in Fairway, KS, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. He is board-certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Neuropsychology. He practices neuropsychology in a general outpatient clinic serving adult patients across the broad neurological and psychiatric spectrum. He also practices in an interdisciplinary memory care clinic which he helped establish in 2019. His clinical interests pertain to neurodegenerative disease, complex medical conditions, and sports concussion. In 2021, he became the Neuropsychologist Consultant for the Kansas City Chiefs football club.

His research interests include investigating the validity of neuropsychological instruments and the cognitive correlates in neurodegenerative disease with biomarkers and pathological features as well as functional outcomes. He is currently involved in grant-funded research involving the neuropsychological impact of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and Down syndrome. He is also involved in the recruitment and enrollment of participants at the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

He completed his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO, clinical internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, OK, and a two-year fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.


Outstanding Dissertation Award

This award is given to recognize an excellent neuropsychology-related dissertation or dissertation project. The winner is invited to present his/her study at a poster session during the Annual Conference and submit the study for publication to Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS 

2022 Recipient |  Lauren Nicole Ratcliffe, Psy.D. | MONTREAL COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT (MOCA) NORMATIVE DATA ACROSS AGING TRAJECTORIES: FROM NORMAL AGING TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Lauren Ratcliffe is a neuropsychology intern at VA Ann Arbor and is graduating from Mercer University, with an emphasis in clinical neuropsychology. Clinically, she provides inpatient rehabilitation-focused and outpatient neuropsychological assessment and intervention to patients with diverse medical conditions. Following the completion of her doctoral training, Lauren will be starting her Clinical Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. Her research focuses on cognitive screening measures, neurodegenerative disorders, and psychometrics. Lauren currently serves as a trainee member on NAN’s Publication committee and previously she served on NAN’s Women in Leadership committee and was President of Mercer University’s Association of Neuropsychology Students and Trainees (ANST) Interest Group.

Tony Wong Diversity Award


The NAN Culture & Diversity Committee is extremely pleased to announce the 9th annual diversity award in honor of Dr. Tony Wong. The Tony Wong Diversity Award was granted in recognition of the applicant’s efforts to promote public education, advocacy, and research in brain health in culturally diverse and minority communities. LEARN MORE ABOUT PAST RECIPIENTS

Tony Wong Diversity Award- Mentor

2022 Recipient | Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla, Ph.D. 
Dr. Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla is currently a Research Professor at Ikerbasque. Basque Foundation for Science in Bilbao, Spain. He has been instrumental in securing grant funding as PI and co-PI from different national and international organizations.. Dr. Arango has received many awards for his accomplishments in neuropsychology including awards from the National Academy of Neuropsychology, the American Psychological Association, the International Brain Injury Association, the International Neuropsychological Society and The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. He has published more than 350 articles and book chapters and edited 10 books.  Dr. Arango has been a guest editor of 12 special issues in prominent rehabilitation journals.  Dr. Arango has lectured at Grand Rounds at more than 102 different universities across the globe. He organized and chaired 6 international conferences on neuropsychology, cultural issues, and Brain Injury Rehabilitation. Dr. Arango is a founding member of the Colombian Neuropsychological Society, and he founded the IberoAmerican Journal of Neuropsychology. His research focuses on understanding and addressing the cognitive, psychological, and emotional needs of individuals with brain injury and their families. He is particularly interested in under-served populations, such as Spanish speakers, and carries out research in the US, Europe, and Latin America. He was PI of a large, multi-center norming study in which more than 14,000 adults and children from over 15 Latin American countries. Thanks to his leadership, normative data by country is now available for the 12 most used neuropsychological tests in each respective population.



Tony Wong Diversity Award- Early Career 

2022 Recipient | Anny Reyes, Ph.D. 
Anny Reyes, Ph.D. is an incoming postdoctoral fellow in neuropsychology and neuroimaging at UC San Diego. She completed her doctoral degree at the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and her neuropsychology internship at Emory School of Medicine. Dr. Reyes’ research interests include examining cognitive diagnostic frameworks in epilepsy, exploring the cognitive heterogeneity in epilepsy, and understanding and reducing epilepsy-related health disparities. Clinically, she is interested in cultural neuropsychology and offering clinical services to Spanish-speaking patients. Dr. Reyes is passionate about diversifying the field of neuropsychology and advancing cultural neuropsychology and has developed several initiatives focused on providing students with novel research and professional networking opportunities, increasing diversity within neuropsychology, and promoting student mentorship.

Student Poster Award 

This monetary award is given at the Annual Conference for the most meritorious posters. READ MORE  

Student Poster Award - Diversity

This award is granted at the Annual Conference for the best student poster that reflects diversity-related topics or issues. READ MORE