North Carolina Psychological Association (NCPA)/24th Psychology Undergraduate Conference (Fall 2017)/Neuropsychology

Leader: Sarah Cook from Duke University

 * Day to day
 * She works at Duke at an outpatient clinic
 * 3 patients/day 3 days/week
 * Supervises training: has practicum students, postdoc program
 * Talking with families and individuals about diagnosis, prognosis, and setting a plan going forward
 * Difference between cognitive psychology and neuropsychology
 * Cognitive psych is more experimental rather than clinical/applied
 * Conducts research on things like language, speech, decision making, learning, memory
 * No patients seen
 * Neuropsychology focuses on assessment and diagnostics
 * Referrals come from neurology dept.
 * However they also do research
 * Can balance research and clinical experience depending on the job they are in
 * Becoming a neuropsychology technicians
 * Also referred to as "psychometrists"
 * Do nothing but standard administration
 * Have positions at Duke
 * Excellent use of time between undergraduate and graduate school
 * Most hospitals and private practices use technicians (more than 2/3 of neuropsychologists use them)
 * Programs will provide all of the training, so you don't need experience beforehand
 * Generally very good to take a year off (or more) between your undergraduate experience and going to graduate school.
 * Will help your maturity and general experience, also getting into better schools that appeal to you, finding out your interests and exploring them
 * Depends on setting with how much money you will make
 * In university setting with research starting is 60,000
 * In clinical setting, the starting salary is about 80,000-90,000
 * You typically incur more student loans if you take the PsyD. route as opposed to the Ph.D route
 * For the most part, the path to neuropsychology is a Ph.D in clinical psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology
 * After acquiring your Ph.D, you spend a year doing an internship and then another two years for post-doc
 * Most master's programs will not allow you to have a job during education
 * Most neuropsychologists do not do therapy, but some do
 * Refer to other people that do that kind of work
 * Neuropsychologists work in industry, like pharmaceuticals
 * Other ways to make money: forensic work, consultation
 * Consultation with AI?
 * Lots of research continuing with substance abuse