Dear SCN Members,
This summer I will have the distinct privilege to begin my term as your President. I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to bring my organizational experience in advocating for neuropsychology to this role. As an introduction, I have held positions on multiple committees, boards, and organizations at the state and national level for the past 15 years. I held state and national leadership roles, serving both as President of the Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA) and chair of the SCN Practice Advisory Committee. I am also Past-President of the Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society. These experiences have allowed me to coordinate state and national resources, forge relationships with the insurance industry, and lobby psychology interests on Capitol Hill.
As an SCN board member and delegate to the IOPC for 6 years, I partnered with APA Legal affairs, Office of Health Care Financing, and leaders from the major national neuropsychology associations to provide advocacy, resources and guidance to neuropsychologists. I am also passionate about improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), initiating a MPA Presidential Taskforce on DEI, which was awarded the APA SPTA Diversity Award in 2021. I look forward to leveraging these experiences to work with the many dedicated SCN members and committees to advance our society and neuropsychology.
As we transition from the pandemic to endemic stage of SARS-CoV-2, we will be managing the long-term effects of this global illness on the health of many citizens in our country. This pandemic has wreaked havoc on the lives of Americans, especially those from marginalized and underrepresented communities. The endemic phase will be focused on treating the post-acute SARS-CoV2 (PASC), and there will be a call for many neuropsychologists to assess and treat the cognitive effects of PASC. We will need to connect with our patients in marginalized communities and work towards more equitable access to neuropsychological assessment and treatment through population health management. One silver lining of the pandemic was our field’s quick pivot to tele-neuropsychology. The impact of this shift is still being understood, through research validating novel measures and new vehicles for provision of care. This pivot forced our profession to embrace greater technological advances, which was sorely overdue. There is much work ahead and I am excited to help steer SCN to evolve our profession to one of further technological modernization, accessibility and reducing healthcare disparities which will be the theme of my presidency.
This coming year, we have the tremendous benefit of capitalizing upon the arduous work of the Strategic Planning Committee, co-chaired by Drs. Scott Sperling and Lynette Abrams-Silva which unveiled a myriad of findings from the national survey by over 1000 respondents (#SCNStrategicPlan2022). Our Strategic Planning Implementation group, together with our Executive Committee will focus on translating this critical feedback to shaping important initiatives in the new strategic plan for SCN. Some of the primary feedback from our respondents echo the themes of the coming year to improve accessibility to neuropsychology, penetration of our profession to wider audience, and critically improving diversity within our field. Increased professional diversity starts early in the training pipeline, and this year SCN will partake in updates to the Houston Conference Guidelines at the Minnesota 2022 Conference: Updating Education and Training Guidelines in Clinical Neuropsychology, marking a historic event to preparing future generations of neuropsychologists, and one which EDI will be at the cornerstone of planning.
I am truly honored to be President of our Society of Clinical Neuropsychology. I look forward to an invigorating and transformative time, working with and for you during this 2022-2023 governance year.
Sincerely,
Maggie Lanca, PhD
President, Society for Clinical Neuropsychology
Division 40, APA