PIAC
Community Outreach Subcommittee

Carolyn Parsey, PhD, ABPP is an Assistant Professor in the University of Washington School of Medicine Department of Neurology. She received her PhD from Washington State University where she was a National Science Foundation fellow through the IGERT interdisciplinary training program. She completed postdoctoral fellowship at the New Mexico VA Medical Center. Her clinical expertise lies in cognitive assessment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and she primarily sees patients within the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center. Dr. Parsey is part of the Clinical Core of the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and her research activities include longitudinal studies of aging and cognition in older adults, interdisciplinary studies of technology to promote independence in aging and MCI, and collaborative efforts to understand functional changes in various etiologies of cognitive impairment. Dr. Parsey is also the lead neuropsychologist for the EVOLVE longitudinal study of military personnel with history of combat-related traumatic brain injury. In addition to the COS, Dr. Parsey serves as the APA Div 40 Early Career Representative for Washington state, and she is a member of the Program Committee for INS and the Health and Medical subcommittee of the Dementia Action Collaborative.

Julia Vehar, B.S., B.A., is a third year clinical neuropsychology graduate student in the University of Utah Clinical Psychology program. Her primary research aim is to identify neural markers to aid in neuropsychological assessment. Julia’s current research focuses on psychophysiological (EEG) markers of cognitive aging, such as the aperiodic slope and event-related potentials, collected during completion of cognitive tests. She is additionally interested in cognitive processing alterations in somatoform disorders, specifically functional neurological disorders.

Dr. Zara (Zarui) Melikyan is an Associate Project Scientist at the University of California Irvine. Her research interests are in: (1) modifiable factors associated with cognitive resilience and dementia in oldest-old (age 90+), and (2) cross-cultural neuropsychology, test translation and adaptation. Dr. Melikyan has received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology with specialized training in neuropsychology from The Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia. She completed her post-doctoral training in cross-cultural neuropsychology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. She is also a co-chair of the Science Committee for the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society.

Dr. Kristine Lokken received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Dakota and is currently an Associate Professor and Chief Psychologist in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology. Dr. Lokken specializes in Neuropsychology and Health Psychology. She began her career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama and was previously at UAB in the Department of Psychiatry from 2005-2009, conducting research and clinical care. She then served for 10-years as Director of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. Dr. Lokken also co-founded two outcomes-based precision brain health institutes, the Birmingham, AL based Brain Health Institute and the Seattle, WA based Brain Health & Research Institute. The clinics focus on using tailored, research driven multi-modal protocols for the prevention, stabilization, and restoration of cognitive function. Dr. Lokken is currently a key clinician in the Post-COVID Treatment Program at UAB and a member of the UAB neuroCOVID Working Research Group. Dr. Lokken has a passion for helping people protect and restore brain health. She has published several articles in peer reviewed journals and has lectured extensively on brain health.

Lynn A. Schaefer, Ph.D., ABPP-CN: Dr. Schaefer is Director of Neuropsychology at Nassau University Medical Center. She holds academic appointments as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and as Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Stony Brook Medicine. Dr. Schaefer completed her undergraduate degree at Binghamton University, before earning her Ph.D. from the Neuropsychology subprogram at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Schaefer served as Chair of the Ethics PIAC Subcommittee for the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40 of the APA) from 2017 to 2021. Her clinical and research interests are in the assessment and remediation of neurobehavioral disorders, such as brain injury and dementia, educational outreach, and in the determination of decision-making capacity.

Dr. Kalliopi Megari is a lecturer at University of Western Macedonia in Greece. She is an experienced psychologist working in the hospital & health care industry, skilled in Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Research and Learning Disabilities. Graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and attended further education from University of Macedonia, in people with special needs and disabilities. She holds undergraduate degrees in Nursing and Psychology, as well as a Master’ s and a PhD in Neuropsychology and she is a postdoctoral researcher at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has many years of experience working with vulnerable groups of people such as chronic disease patients, prisoners as well as people with disabilities. Her work has earned her many prestigious international awards and has given lectures at University of Warsaw in Poland and Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Oslo. She is the Editor-In- Chief of “International Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health” and member of the Editorial Board of more than 40 Health Psychology, Neuropsychology and Medical Journals. Kalliopi is the leader of Rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients subgroup of NeuroCOVID International Neuropsychology Taskforce SIG and member of Global Membership Committee of International Neuropsychological Society. She is the Secretary General of Hellenic Neuropsychological Society and President of the Ethics Committee of Hellenic Neuropsychological Society. Kalliopi was a research fellow in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery in AHEPA Hospital and from 2018-2021 she was a Global Engagement Representative of International Neuropsychological Society.

Dr. James Chi Cheng Yang is a professor in Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University in Taiwan. He has been a licensed clinical neuropsychologist for more than 15 years and mainly works in university to teach clinical neuropsychology. His research interests focus on brain concussions and trying to establish a caring framework for them from hospitals to communities. Because collaborating with physicians are common and necessary in Taiwan, he also works with neurologists, neurosurgeons and radio-oncologists for patients experienced dementia, brain tumors or cerebral vascular insults. He completed graduate school training of clinical psychology with a full year internship in Taiwan to get the license (clinical psychologist), and then completed my doctoral program with a two-year supervisor training in National Taiwan University. Because clinical neuropsychology in Taiwan is still young and developing, he is dedicating himself to share and promote neuropsychology with Taiwanese people.

Nataly Ibarra Stewart is a sixth-year PhD student in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was born in Mexico, moved to the US when she was five years old, and grew up in Michigan. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Brain, Behavior, & Cognitive Science from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a Master of Public Health degree prior to beginning her doctoral studies in psychology. Nataly is passionate about clinical neuropsychology and is currently completing her pre-doctoral internship at the Detroit VA Medical Center on the neuropsychology track. She will be starting her clinical neuropsychology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Neurology in Fall 2022. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her husband, go hiking with their dog, and go to Orangetheory Fitness classes.

Abigail Baird, MSW is a doctoral candidate at Texas Woman's University in Counseling Psychology. Her current research involves the role of stress in functional and behavioral recovery in a mouse model of TBI. Additional research interests include sport-related concussion/TBI and cross-cultural considerations in neuropsychology. In the fall she will complete her clinical internship at the Loma Linda VA on the Neuropsychology track.