Year: 2025

Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), San Antonio TX.

Brenda Owe, Carmen Jia-Wen Chek, and Emily Flores (with Dr. Peter Lichtenberg) presented posters at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America.

Added perks of conference travel to Boston: Catching up with lab alumna Dr. Robiann Broomfield, who is completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Left: Brenda, Dr. B, and Carmen. Right: Dr. B and Emily Flores

(1) Destiny Weaver with Lisa Rapport; (2) Destiny Weaver with Dr. Amy Jak, President of the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology; (2) Nika Eringros with Lisa Rapport; (4) Dr. Sawsaan Ahmed (WSU alum, 2006), Professor at Cal State Fullerton.

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Williams, NeurAL lab alumnus (2016) who earned promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston. What a huge accomplishment. We are very proud that he is a Wayne State Warrior alum.

Throwback picture from his dissertation defense:

The Massachusetts Neuropsychological Society (MNS) Relevance 2050 Initiative Award is a $15,000 prize given to support graduate students and postdoctoral trainees who demonstrate a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in neuropsychology. Inspired by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) Relevance 2050 Initiative, this award aims to promote cultural competence in serving diverse populations. Our Robiann Broomfield (NeurAL lab PhD alum, December 2024), was selected as this year’s award recipient. Dr. Broomfield is completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Gavin Sanders’ article was showcased in APA Editor’s Choice, which “features the most exciting new findings in psychological science” and includes articles from APA journals that are considered “outstanding, noteworthy, and impactful for the field.” The article is based on his dissertation and includes coauthors from the lab.

Sanders, G. D., Rapport, L. J., Lumley, M. A., Hanks, R. A., Langenecker, S. A., Broomfield, R. R., & Radigan, L. J. (2025). Assessing memory for emotions separately from emotion recognition after traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychology, 39(4), 347–358. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000998

Dr. Sanders is currently a postdoctoral fellow at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2025-86696-001.html

 

Emily Flores was awarded a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation to fund her dissertation research, Cognitive Predictors of Vulnerability to Financial Exploitation in Spanish-Speaking Older Adults. This project is the next in a series of studies Emily has conducted on risk for financial exploitation. Read some samples of her previous work here and here.

Way to go, EVF :).

Current members and alumni of the lab connect at our annual INS lab lunch and poster sessions in New Orleans.