Ethnic-Minority Affairs Committee

The EMA Committee is an integral part of SCN’s mission, as it promotes the integration of diverse populations into the fabric of neuropsychological practice, research, teaching, and training in order to provide neuropsychologists with the knowledge and resources to better understand and serve an increasingly diverse U.S. population. Similarly, EMA aims to reduce the historic inequities present in the field of neuropsychology. The committee has established a variety of means to support its overarching goal, including:

• Providing information and education on culturally relevant topics in neuropsychology,
• Supporting mentoring program/database to encourage the career development of neuropsychologists of diverse backgrounds,
• Hosting scheduled mentoring and other events at the APA and INS conventions, and
• Maintaining a listserv for all who are interested in cross-cultural/multicultural issues in neuropsychology.

To join the EMA listserv or to learn more about the EMA mentoring program, please contact EMA Committee Chair, Lynette Abrams-Silva, Ph.D. An additional resource includes the APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs.

EMA Committee Chairperson
Lynette Abrams-Silva, Ph.D., ABPP-CN (Term: 2018 – 2021)

Dr. Abrams-Silva obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of New Mexico, where she engaged in graduate research in cerebellar functioning under the mentorship of Drs. Steven Verney and Ron Yeo. She completed her predoctoral internship at the University of Chicago with Drs. Joseph Fink and Maureen Lacy before postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology with Dr. Neil Pliskin at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She was Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern as well as Director of Assessment at Parkland Memorial Hospital for three years before returning to New Mexico. She is currently in private practice in Albuquerque, where she established a practicum for UNM graduate students. She is currently licensed in the States of Illinois and New Mexico.

EMA Committee Members
Michelle Madore, Ph.D. (Term: 2018 – 2021)

Dr. Madore is a Clinical Neuropsychologist at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System (VAPAHCS) in the Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC).  Here she serves as the Director of the National Clinical rTMS Program whose mission is to: 1) increase the availability of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for treatment-resistant depression in Veterans and (2) gain a greater understanding of the treatment efficacy of TMS in our complex Veteran population. She is also Co-Director of the Sierra Pacific MIRECC Advanced Fellowship at VAPAHCS. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Cincinnati, where she received specialized training in neuropsychology. Dr. Madore completed her pre-doctoral internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.  She has completed postdoctoral training focused on clinical neuropsychology and neurorehabilitation research at VA Martinez, San Francisco VA Medical Center and VAPA. She is the Financial Officer for the Asian American Psychological Association’s Division on Filipino Americans.

Kamini Krishnan, Ph.​D. (Term: 2017 – 2020)

Dr. Krishnan is an adult neuropsychologist at the Cleveland Clinic at their main campus in Cleveland.  She holds joint appointments in the Center for Brain Health (CBH) and general adult Neuropsychology, with a clinical focus on neurodegenerative diseases. Her research interests involve use of neuroimaging techniques to better understand neurological conditions. She is also involved in education.  She completed her doctoral program and internship at University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She finished her postdoctoral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Krishnan describes herself as a global nomad. She was born in India, completed high school in Sultanate of Oman, and has lived in the US since. She is fluent in Tamil, Hindi, and English.

Beatriz “Tish” MacDonald (Term: 2017 – 2020)

Dr. Beatriz (Tish) MacDonald is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center. She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver, with specialties in neuropsychology, multicultural awareness, and statistics. Dr. MacDonald completed her internship and postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Health Sciences Center. Dr. MacDonald founded the Multicultural Excellence in Neuropsychology Training and Evaluation (MENTE) Program at UNM Hospital, a center dedicated to providing clinical training, research, and service delivery to linguistic minorities, including an outreach program at San Felipe Pueblo. She is an invited faculty member of the Master’s Program in Neuropsychology at the Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala. Dr. MacDonald’s research focuses on how to better understand the impact that different factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, language, and culture) have on neurodevelopment and how it informs culturally-competent neuropsychological practices. She serves in several boards and initiatives, including the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society (HNS).

Fu Lye “Martin” Woon, Ph.D., ABPP-CN (Term: 2018 – 2021)

Dr. Woon is a clinical neuropsychologist at Seton Brain & Spine Institute and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Psychology at UT Austin. He provides adult/geriatric clinical neuropsychological evaluation and is actively involved in research and clinical supervision/teaching. He completed his doctoral program at Brigham Young University, predoctoral internship at the University of Florida, and fellowship at the University of Michigan. He is licensed in the states of Texas, and board certified (ABPP). He enjoys working with diverse patient populations and is fluent in Mandarin, Malay/Indonesian, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and Hakka.

Christopher Nguyen, Ph.D. (Term: 2018 – 2021)

Dr. Nguyen is an attending neuropsychologist and assistant clinical professor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, where he also serves as a co-director of the Neuropsychology Clinical-Translational Research Laboratory. He is the SCN Early Career Neuropsychologist Committee Representative for the state of Ohio. He completed his doctoral degree at the University of Iowa, pre-doctoral internship at the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System, and postdoctoral residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. His research interests include topics in cognitive aging, decision making, civil capacities, and cross-cultural considerations in neuropsychology. Dr. Nguyen is fluent in Vietnamese and works with adults in both outpatient and inpatient settings. 

EMA Early Career Representative

Michael W. Williams, Ph.D. (Term: 2017 – 2019)

Dr. Michael W. Williams is a visiting assistant professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Houston. His research interests are in assessment, patient outcomes, and brain injury, which informs his clinical practice. He completed his doctoral training in clinical psychology with minors in neuropsychology and advanced statistical methods at Wayne State University. He completed his clinical internship at the University of Washington School of Medicine on the Behavioral Medicine/Neuropsychology track. His postdoctoral fellowship specialized in the adult rehabilitation and clinical neuropsychology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has worked with many diverse patients in terms of medical condition, gender/sexuality, nationality, etc., and he has experience using interpreter services to provide psychological intervention. He was a member of the Diversity Advancement Committee during internship in addition to serving as Chair of the American Psychological Association for Graduate Students (APAGS) Science Committee. He also served as a mentor through Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association/ Diversity Postdoctoral Alliance Committee. He is excited to share his knowledge, skills, and energy in service to the EMA Committee.

EMA Student Representative

Anny Reyes, M.S. (Term: 2018 – 2020)

Anny Reyes, M.S. is a third-year doctoral student at San Diego State/ UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, specializing in neuropsychology. Anny’s main research objective is to use neuroimaging and neuropsychological tools to better characterize cognitive phenotypes in temporal lobe epilepsy and other epilepsy syndromes in order to better predict the risk for cognitive decline associated with aging or medical/surgical interventions. Specifically, she is interested in identifying individual differences (e.g., demographic, vascular, genetic) that can alter the response to brain pathology and influence the relationship between brain pathology and clinical phenotypes in patients with epilepsy. Her long-term goal is to study brain networks and risk/factors in a range of epilepsy syndromes and neurological disorders, as well as those associated with aging.