Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 3.
Dr. Murelle Harrison, previous Chair of the Psychology Department at Southern University, Baton Rouge campus, has taken the Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and serves as the liaison between the Dean and the Chairs.
Harrison explained that Southern continues to be in a transitional period. “Southern University recently re-organized and reduced its colleges from ten to seven,” she said. “Academic reorganization at SUBR was undertaken by campus academic leaders with the overall goal of enhancing student success and improving effective teaching, scholarship and connectedness.”
The former Department of Psychology is now the Department of Psychology, Sociology, and Social Work, Harrison explained. “We are now housed in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences that also houses Public Policy, Public Administration, Political Science and Criminal Justice,” she said.
Dr. Harrision became a licensed prevention professional in 2007. She told the Times, “The prevention field has moved from and individual ‘risk and protective’ approach to the public health model that focuses on the entire community. I teach the online undergraduate and graduate introductory course and interested students can perform their required fieldwork at our nonprofit agency, the Gardere Initiaitve. Another change for prevention is to broaden its scope of practice from alcohol, tobacco and other drug use to include the prevention of mental, emotional and behavior disorders. My role is to focus on building community coalitions to address all these issues.”
The Gardere Initiative is a Baton Rouge based group whose mission is “To address substance abuse and other social ills in the Gardere area that adversely affect children, neighboring subdivisions, and the City in general, through spiritual intervention, collaboration and partnerships.” The group offers adult education, tutoring, computer access, nutrition programs, Bible study, parenting classes, business development, and Alcoholic Anonymous.
Dr. Harrison is the representative from Southern University. Among other groups are Faith Chapel Church of God, St. Jude Catholic Church, Greater Morning Star Baptist Church, Iglesia El Aposento Alto, Gardere Community Christian School, Gardere youth Alliance, Matthews Realty, EBR Sheriff Office, and others.
Dr. Murelle Harrison
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 11.
Louisiana Tech’s Dr. Lore Dickey will co-chair the presentation, “Lifelong Training and Development for Psychologists––Meeting the Needs of Transgender Clients,” with co-chair Dr. Anneliese Singh. He will present “Relationships with Transgender Individuals,” and speak about how transgender individuals are both similar to and different in their relationships to those who are not transgender. Dickey will look at inaccurate assumptions about transgender individuals and how psychologists can help support resilience by addressing issues of partners to transgender people.
He will also present “Making Room at the Table: ECP Leadership on APA Guideline Development,” as part of a symposium on Thursday, titled, “Leadership in APA for Sexual Minorities and Gender Non-conforming People.”
Dr. Dickey and Dr. Singh will discuss their leadership activities as early career psychologists working on the development of APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Clients.
Dickey will also present his work on “Highlighting LGBT Early Career Leaders in Division 44: Society for the Psychological Study of LGBT Issues,” in a poster session for Early Career Opportunities in APA Divisions––Get Engaged, on Friday. On Thursday he will act in the discussant role in the symposium, “The Other Side of the Story– –Trans Individuals Experiences of Positivity and Resilience.” And on Friday Dr. Dickey will also be part of a panel on Friday on “Gender in the 2010s––Female, Male, and Transgender Issues and Perspectives.”
Dr. Lore Dickey at recent convention.
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 4.
Dr. John Fanning, psychologist and past-president of the Louisiana Psychological Association was honored, along with a select few State Troopers, with the “Lifesaving Award” at the annual presentation by the Louisiana State Police.
Fanning was honored for acting with bravery and courage when he rescued a woman from a bridge. Advocate reporter Ben Wallace noted that Fanning was on his way to visit his mother on Memorial Day when he saw a woman on the edge of the bridge along the Crescent City Connection. He stopped his car and perceived that the situation was an apparent suicide attempt. He spoke with the woman for a moment, then grabbed her arms and pulled her to safety.
Fanning told the Times, “ It happened so fast there was virtually no thinking involved at all.”
For full story, go to The Advocate at http://theadvocate.com/home/9688680-125/state- police-honors-acts-of.
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson (L) awards Dr. John Fanning (center) the Lifesaving Award for preventing an apparent suicide attempt on a New Orleans bridge. Assistant Superintendent Lt. Col. Charles Dupuy looks on. (Advocate photo/ Richard Alan Hannon. Used with permission.)
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 11.
Dr. ValaRay Irvin, Director of the Counseling Center at Southern University, will participate in the symposium, “Evolution and Current Practice of Counseling Centers at Historically Black College and Universities.”
Her presentation is, “Barriers to Help Seeking on HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Campuses.” She will cover some of the barriers experienced by African- American students that contributed to their lack of help-seeking, the role and the responsibilities of the HBCU, and the role counseling centers (CC) can play in the students’ development. Irvine will also discuss the relationship to over-all university retention efforts and the importance of developing a center rooted in ‘best practices’ and standards designed to work.
“The discussion will focus on four main areas,” Dr. Irvin told the Times. “Origin and evolution of CC at HBCUs; Current operations; Stigma reduction; and Ethical issues. I am specifically addressing Stigma reduction, and a part of Ethical issues,” she said.
“The presentation is important because it details the decades of existence of CC at HBCUs (1837-1900) from their earliest development as a means to address ‘social justice,’ to being centers of ‘advising’ for students without any clinical services at all, to the full range of professionally clinical services they offer now,” she said.
“My segment of the presentation addresses debunking myths/beliefs some African- Americans hold about counseling; examining the intersection of religion, spirituality, and mental health, and while it’s more comfortable for some students to present with somatic symptoms vs. mental health symptoms,” Irvin noted.
“Ethical issues often addressed are; the history and assumption of ‘in loco parentis,’ the increased likelihood that referring sources feel entitled to information, and feedback about the student; the greater likelihood that religiosity will be part of the therapy, and the active role of the therapist to assist the client in reframing some of his/her deeply held ‘learning’ from society, as well as church, and the increased need to educate superiors about the law and the ethics of your profession.”
“My personal experience as director of counseling for 15 years [at Southern] is that I have addressed all of the above,” she said. “That is, the intersection of spirituality and religion; how to define them, and utilize both without offending the client. The most difficult challenge I’ve had has been finding the balance between assisting and accommodating faculty, staff, and administrators, while maintaining professionally ethical standards; including standards of accreditation, and especially maintaining students’ confidentiality.
Dr. Irvin is a licensed psychologist, Director of the Counseling Center at Southern University, Staff Senate Representative, and a member of the Centennial Steering Committee.
Dr. ValaRay Irvin (Courtesy photo)
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 4.
In a July 11 press release, the Louisiana Board of Regents said that the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has identified teacher preparation programs in Louisiana as leading the nation in several areas as reported in the NCTQ Teacher Prep Review 2014 Report.
Northwestern State University and Louisiana State University were ranked in the top 10 nationally for all elementary teacher preparation programs and Southeastern Louisiana University was ranked in the top 30 nationally for all secondary teacher preparation programs, the press release noted.
Also according to the report, 89% of Louisiana’s teacher preparation programs met a NCTQ standard pertaining to systematically collecting and monitoring data on their graduates and making changes to improve their programs. The national average is 27%.
During the years 2001 to 2011, Board of Regents worked closely with Dr. George Noell, LSU Professor and licensed school psychologist. Noell worked to develop a model over the years to create an empirically based model that could help understand and modify key aspects of teacher preparation in the state. Called the Value-Added Teacher Preparation Program Assessment Model, the work included a number of stages and studies, designed to understand the characteristics of teachers, schools, and teacher preparation, in order to help predict and improve student outcomes.
After large-scale data collection and analysis, Dr. Noell reported to the Regents he had attained stable results when using the model. The program was piloted during 2003 to 2006, and implemented during 2006 to 2009. Results were disseminated to the public and show that some teacher preparation programs have prepared new teachers whose students’ learning is comparable to the learning of students taught by experienced teachers.
Following this, the Louisiana Department of Education adapted the Value-Added Teacher Preparation Assessment to create a value-added teacher evaluation model to assess practicing teachers in grades 4-9 and transitioned between the models. Dr. Noell and Dr. Kristin Gansle provided the transition committee with technical support for the efforts.
Louisiana was one of the first states in the nation to recognize the need to create a more rigorous teacher certification structure and a more rigorous teacher preparation approval process. As a result of changes to Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Board of Regents policies, all public and private universities redesigned their programs from 2001-2010, noted the July 11 press release.
The Report on Teacher Quality is available at http://www.nctq.org/dmsStage/Teacher_Prep_ Review_2014_Report
For a full history of the Louisiana program development and technical reports by Dr. Noell and colleagues, go to http://regents.louisiana.gov/value-added- teacher-preparation-program-assessment- model/
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 12.
Dr. Paula Varnado-Sullivan Stigmatization of Mental Health Labels Kaly Solek, Ashley Rohner, Mary White, Allison Battaglia
Dr. Paula Varnado-Sullivan, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana University, will present in the research poster session, “Issues in Clinical Practice, Training, Psychotherapy, Dissemination, and Implementation.”
Varnado-Sullivan’s work is titled, “Does a Diagnostic Label Impact the Stigmatization of Anorexia Nervosa?” She has worked with co- authors Kaly Solek, Ashley Rohner, Mary White, and Allison Battaglia.
The study included two comparison conditions, major depression and a normal control. Vignettes were developed describing a person with and without a diagnostic label, and over one thousand undergraduates rated the fictional person. There were no differences between major depression and anorexia nervosa.
“My research here lately has been on the stigmatization of psychological disorders and eating disorders particularly,” Varnado-Sullivan told the Times. “One thing I had noticed was there was a lot of inconsistency in the methodology used. This study looks at whether the diagnostic label would be rated more harshly than a description of the behaviors.”
While some of the results are difficult to interpret, “The gist though is that psychological disorders are stigmatized,” Dr. Varnado-Sullivan said.
“It does seem that the label alone may bias attitudes and the presentation of a descriptor of the behaviors may temper attitudes. I think the main importance is that no matter how we present the information, anorexia nervosa is not admired. However, I think that the general public does not realize when thin is too thin.” Dr. Varnado-Sullivan said she is hoping to study that theme next.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 5.
Recently, it was the pleasure of the Psychology Times to interview Mr. John Crawford, current President of the Louisiana Counseling Association. We asked him about his views regarding current issues facing counselors in the field and also about the upcoming annual conference to be held at the International Hotel in New Orleans, September 20-23, 2014.
Mr. Crawford, a native of Alexandria, received his Master's Degree from Webster University in St. Louis, is currently employed at the Central Louisiana Human Services District in Alexandria as a Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counselor.
Previously, in 2010, he received the Carl D. Perkins Governmental Relations Award at the American Counseling Association for his work regarding elevating the status of Licensed Professional Counselors within the civil service to that of Licensed Clinical Social Workers.
Crawford told the Times that one of the foremost issues facing Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) has involved the relationship with the Veteran's Administration and the classification of LPCs within the system, particularly those who are qualified by their training to serve as mental health counselors and therapists.
Despite demonstrated training and experience, Crawford explained, counselors have been slow to be hired by the agency, whereas social workers seem to be the preferred professional hired for counseling positions. Little progress in this area has been made so far, Crawford felt.
In tune with this theme, Mr. Crawford noted that the Louisiana Counseling Association (LCA) sponsored legislation in the 2014 legislative session to change the official designation of counseling interns. Senate Bill 194 was put forth to rename interns to Provisional Licensed Professional Counselors, a step to clarify the actual credentials of interns who obtain two years post degree experience prior to licensure.
Crawford explained that it was felt that this title would raise the professional profile and improve the employability of persons completing the post-degree supervision requirements at both the state and federal levels.
Also, Crawford noted that those from LCA had made steps to improve communication and cooperation among mental health practitioners. Included in these efforts, Crawford recently participated in the first Annual Mental Health Forum, co-sponsored by the LCA and the Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. The Forum was attended by leaders of six different mental health professional organizations, including those from the fields of psychology, counseling, and social work.
For the first time ever members of the mental health professions discussed their various positions on legislation that were being proposed for the 2014 Louisiana legislative session, with the goal of cooperating and negotiating areas of differences. Crawford said that in his estimation, progress was made in terms of building bridges among the various mental health professions represented.
Finally, and germane to the theme of the upcoming September conference, Mr. Crawford stated that although often as counselors and therapists we tend to concentrate on deficits and problem areas – which often by their nature are quite grim–we often forget the healing power of laughter.
In contrast to a negative based orientation, he said, what might be accomplished from a strength based approach, one that aimed at a sense of happiness and well-being?
Inspired by a Reader's Digest article, “The Healing Power of Laughter,” Crawford helped create the theme for the upcoming September LCA Conference: “The Healing Power of Laughter and Its Effect on the Client.”
Keynoting the conference on Sunday, September 21 will be Dr. Robert Smith, incoming president of the American Counseling Association. His topic will be: “What Counselors and Counselor Educators Need to Know.” Dr. Smith is the department head of the Counseling and Educational Psychology Department at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi Campus.
Dr. Samuel Gladding will lead off as Monday's keynote speaker. Gladding is chair of the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University and served in 2004 as President of the American Counseling Association. Dr. Gladding will speak on “Some Fun and Funny Facts about Wellness and How Humor Adds to Your Health.”
Some of the pre-conference workshops include, “What Makes People Happy,” presented by Dr. John Simoneaux, “Human Trafficking,” presented by Alliece Cole, Donna Frank, and Dr. Courtney Eichelberger, and “Shedding Light on School Counseling Ethics,” by Michael Lefort. Additional information is available from LCA.
LCA Past-President Paul Ceasar (L), current LCA President John Crawford, and Executive Director Diane Austin look over registration at last year’s annual convention of the La. Counseling Association.
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 12.
First author Christina Danko, will present “In- Home Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Foster Parents and Children in Foster Care,” in the poster session for Child and Family Policy and Practice. Co-author is Dr. Karen Budd.
Researchers looked at 27 foster families to explore benefits of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, an evidence-based treatment for young children, in a randomized design for phases of the therapy. They found that that PCIT was effective, compared to control, and treatment satisfaction was high.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 5.
Dr. Marcia Beard, New Orleans licensed clinical psychologist, passed away June 13. She worked in private practice in the New Orleans area and had previously worked at the Veterans Administration in N.O. She earned her doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Memorial article is to follow.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 12.
Dr. Kelly Ray, Baton Rouge Medical Psychologist, will participate in the Saturday symposium, “Nuts and Bolts of Successful Practice.” Her presentation will be on “Developing a Part-Time Practice.” The symposium is part of the offerings for Psychologists in Private Practice.
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Dr. Bonnie Nastasi Multicultural Issues, Child Rights
Tulane Professor Dr. Bonnie Nastasi, current Co-Chair of APA Committee on International Relations in Psychology, will be leading several symposia as well as chairing the session for the presentation of this year’s International Humanitarian Award taking place on the final day of the APA conference.
She will co-chair, “Psychology Without Borders––A Roundtable Discussion on International Teaching, Research, and Service.”
“This is a session organized by APA’s Committee on International Relations in Psychology [CIRP] in collaboration with American Psychological Association Student Group,” Dr. Nastasi told the Times. “The session is organized around the three topic areas of teaching, research, and service.”
“The purpose of the session is to provide information and opportunity for those interested in doing international work to hear from individuals with experience in doing international work,” she said. “The discussion focuses on how to get started, challenges and benefits, how to negotiate international relationships; and provides an opportunity to meet potential mentors and colleagues with similar interests.”
Dr. Nastasi will also chair the symposium, “Using Psychological Science to Promote and Protect Child Rights––Policy, Practice, and Research,” a collaborative session initiated by CIRP and the Committee on Children Youth and Families, she explained.
“This is the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Nastasi said. “I have been working in the area of child rights for the past several years, originally under the auspices of International School Psychology Association and subsequent collaboration with Division 16 [School Psychology].”
“We developed a curriculum for professional development of school psychologists––and other mental health professionals––in child rights advocacy within their roles working with individuals, systems and policy. The project is now centered at Tulane as the Tulane University Child Rights Team and reflects the efforts of several doctoral students and doctoral graduates of Tulane’s School Psychology program under my leadership.”
The roundtable session is an effort to bring together psychologists from different divisions who do work related to promotion and protection of child rights, she explained.
“My presentation is focused on integrating child rights perspective into the research through choice of research questions, methodology, and ethics; and including children as co-researchers,” she said.
On Friday, Dr. Nastasi will also present in “Top 20 Psychological Principles for PK- 12 Education,” along with co- authors for the APA Board of Educational Affairs.
The top 20 psychological principles were developed by Nastasi and others through the Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education, an interdivisional coalition that works in collaboration with the APA Center for Psychology in Schools and Education within the Education Directorate, she explained.
The principles cover the domains of cognitive competence, assessment, motivation, and social- emotional competence, she noted. Examples include how emotional well-being influences educational performance, learning, and well-being, and how interpersonal relationships and interpersonal communication are critical to the teaching–learning process and the social–emotional development of students.
The Coalition is in the process of finalizing a document that presents the principles, explains the importance based on psychological theory and research, and discusses relevance for teachers, she said.
Also on Friday Dr.Nastasi will join colleagues from around the country and world to outline issues in, “School Psychology in a Global Context––Transnational/Global Considerations in Training and Practice.”
In this symposium Nastasi will present, “From Multicultural to Intercultural Competence: Implications for Training and Practice.” She will focus on an expanded view of multicultural competence that includes intercultural or transcultural competence.
“This is an area that I have become particularly interested in over the last several years,” Dr. Nastasi said,” related to my interests in international research and development, engaging in international partnerships, and preparing psychologists with a global perspective.
Following the work of Friedman and Antal, Nastasi views this type of competence to develop through reflection, interaction with others from different cultures, and by “… developing a broad cultural repertoire of perceptions, thoughts, and behaviors that facilitates flexible responding in different contexts. They also view the interactions across cultures as being a negotiated process to achieve shared meaning,” she said.
Dr. Nastasi is doing some writing and publishing in this area and has lead an effort in the Committee on International Relations in Psychology to develop “international competencies” that would parallel “multicultural competencies.”
Tulane’s Dr. Bonnie Nastasi
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 12.
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth, Dr. Judy Kuriansky Intervention for Environmental Trauma Dr. Joe Tramontana, Dr. Kelly Ray, and Chelsie Songy
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth will co-chair the symposium, “Intervention for Environmental Trauma––Resiliency, Responsiveness, and Recovery Approaches,” on Friday with Dr. Judy Kuriansky. Symposium presenters will be Dr. Joe Tramontana, Dr. Kelly Ray, and Chelsie Songy.
Presenters will focus on efforts of psychologists, in government agencies as well as in the private sector, to respond to disasters, including appropriate planning and implementation of intervention strategies. Programs to facilitate training in the basics of trauma intervention, including understanding coping strategies, characterological adaptations to trauma, stages of the recovery, and appropriate short-term and long-term therapeutic interventions, along with other topics, will be addressed. Dr. Tramontana will describe the State of Louisiana’s disaster planning and intervention model that is now being adopted by other states, as developed by Drs. Anthony Speier and Rosanne Prats.
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth (L) and Dr. Judy Kuriansky at a recent convention where Kuriansky spoke about her global efforts to bring mental health to the agendas of countries worldwide.
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 6.
Dr. Stacy Overstreet Teacher and Student Agreement About Risk Status of Students Ilana Elias, Shereen Naser, Sarah Kurash, Sarah Golberg and Paulette Carter, MSW
Dr. Stacy Overstreet, Chair of the Psychology Department at Tulane, will present research on “Teacher and Student Agreement Regarding Behavioral and Emotional Risk Status of Students,” in the APA poster session on “Assessment and Data-Based Decision Making in Schools.”
Overstreet’s co-authors are Ilana Elias, Shereen Naser, Sarah Kurash, and Sarah Goldberg, all Tulane student researchers. Paulette Carter, MSW, MPH, and CEO of Children’s Bureau of New Orleans, is also a co-author.
Their study examined teacher and student agreement on the Behavior and Emotional Screening System, the “BESS,” a measure that provides a reliable estimate for identifying students at risk for behavioral and emotional problems.
The sample was 166 4th through 8th grade students and their homeroom teachers. Students were predominately African-American and attending a public charter school.
The researchers found a moderate, significant correlation between the overall BESS T-scores derived from teacher and student reports. Teachers identified many more students (42.6%) as being at risk than students (18.9%). And, teachers’ BESS scores significantly predicted suspensions and GPA.
Dr. Stacy Overstreet
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 12.
Dr. Anne Ciccone Collaborative-Care Treatment Post Disaster Drs. Erin Reuther, Howard Osofsky, and Joy Osofsky.
Dr. Anne Ciccone will present “Psychology’s Role in Collaborative-Care Treatment of Anxiety in Primary Care Patients Postdisaster,” as part of the sessions for Health Psychology. Co-authors are Drs. Erin Reuther, Howard Osofsky, and Joy Osofsky.
Ciccone’s and her team’s work is based on data collected through the Mental and Behavioral health Capacity Project that is part of the Gulf Region health Outreach Program funded through the Deepwater Horizon Medical Benefits Class Action Settlement and implemented through the Department of Psychiatry at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
“In a mental and behavioral health interprofessional collaborative approach involving psychiatry, psychology, and care management, patients are offered up to six consecutive 30-minute CBT [cognitive-behavioral-therapy] based behavioral health sessions in conjunction with medication management within the primary care setting.”
Findings suggests that the integration of care is effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety, including post-traumatic stress, in primary care patients in rural areas impacted by successive disasters.
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Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 12. Source pages: 8.
Tulane’s Dr. Paul Colombo is at the forefront of memory research, an area that he and others hope will uncover ways to prevent or reverse age- associated memory decline.
Colombo will present “Memory Enhancement, CREB, and Interactions Between the Hippocampus and Striatum,” as part of a panel for the Thursday APA symposium, “Interactions Between Memory Systems–– Mechanisms and Implications for Mental Health.” Dr. Colombo leads the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Tulane and is an Associate Professor in Psychology. He is also program chair for the convention for APA Division 6, Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology.
“The work that I'm presenting,” Dr. Colombo explained to the Times, “is on advances in our understanding of how multiple memory systems interact with each other. Overall,” he said, “there is wide agreement that at least two neural systems mediate different types of memory. The hippocampus is necessary for explicit, autobiographical memory, accessible through conscious awareness, and the dorsal striatum is necessary for motor and cognitive habits.”
There has been evidence that reduced grey matter in the hippocampus is associated with increased risk of some neurological and psychiatric disorders, there has been an increased effort to understand these mechanisms.
“Historically, the memory systems were thought to be largely independent of one another,” said Colombo, “but there is increasing evidence that they may interact competitively, and that our relative use of one system or the other may change under different circumstances.”
Colombo and colleague Dr. Veronique Bohbot of McGill University have reported on such matters as the incidence of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, behaviors such as smoking, and also alcohol use, and how these are related to the use of less effective response strategies in the brain.
Also, the use of the habit system in the brain increases with age, but can also lead to reduced performance. This may be reversed with forms of training, Colombo explained.
“I am studying the neuronal mechanics of these interactions,” said Colombo, “and have reported that use of region-specific memory strategies is associated with local activation of a transcription factor, CREB. I use virus-mediated gene transfer, in an animal model, to alter CREB levels, and have shown that this can enhance memory, which may have therapeutic benefits for preventing or reversing age-associated memory decline.”
With these discoveries there is a keen interest in this area of study, and so last year Colombo and Bohbot co-edited a special volume of the journal Hippocampus titled, "Dynamic interactions between memory systems.” Articles from this special issue are available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.c om/doi/10.1002/hipo.v23.11 /issuetoc
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.