Category: News

(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.

Congratulations to Dr. Robiann Broomfield, who was hooded at the December 14 commencement. (These are the best days at work.) Dr. Broomfield is completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. See the commencement video (hooding at approximately 48:40).

 

Brenda Owe was awarded “Best poster by a minority student” from the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN, Division 40) at the American Psychological Association convention in Seattle. The poster was completed with lab members in collaboration with Drs. Heather Belanger and Rodney Vanderploeg, both past presidents of SCN :).

Owe, B., Rapport, L.J., Sanders, G.S., Broomfield, R., Chek, C.J.W., Hanks, R.A., Vanderploeg, R.D., & Belanger, H. (2024, August). Development and validation of the Visuoperceptual Visuospatial Learning and Memory Test. Poster presented at the 2024 American Psychological Association convention, Division 40 (Society for Clinical Neuropsychology).

Wow: Our ReBUILD Detroit scholar, Rebecca De La Garza, won best presentation at the national ABRCMS (Annual Biomedical Research Conference For Minoritized Scientists) 2023 Phoenix for her poster presentation, Alexithymia Moderates the Relationship between Memory for Emotion and Companionship. Congratulations and wow, Rebecca and her team of coauthors:
Rebecca De La Garza, Darius A. Vann, Robiann R. Broomfield (doctoral student co-mentor), Gavin D. Sanders, Robin A. Hanks, & Lisa J. Rapport (co-mentor/Advisor)

To boot, last month, Rebecca garnered the Science Research Excellence Award – Second Place at the Annual University of Detroit Undergraduate and Graduate Research Symposium. In our lab, we call this series of events “convergent validity”. Way to go, Rebecca and our team.

Wow. This award encompasses trainees in all the health professions trainees across the spectrum of specialties within the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (e.g., medicine, psychology, nursing, dentistry, etc.). Read more about the award here.

 

Darius Vann led fellow lab members Gavin Sanders, Rebecca De La Garza, and Robiann Broomfield on a poster submission that garnered a Student Blue Ribbon, Evidence-Based Practice Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (Div. 40).  The study was titled “Computer Equipment in Tele-assessment is Confounded with Performance and Demographic Characteristics.” Darius presented in a session sponsored by Division 40 – Society for Clinical Neuropsychology, 2:00 – 2:50 PM, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Level 2, Halls D and E.

Not coincidentally, our own very recent alum, Dr. Jeremy Grant, was gracious enough to send Darius a note of congratulations before letting us know that he too won a Blue Ribbon Award: The poster abstract that he completed at his University of Florida postdoctoral fellowship, “Quick-Reference Criteria for Identifying Multivariate Change in Mild Cognitive Impairment”, won the award for Best Research Abstract by an Early Career Professional.

That’s how we roll at our lab :).

       

So much good news it cannot fit into a single headline:

Gavin Sanders has accepted an offer from The University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center for his postdoctoral fellowship. This outcome was Gavin’s quest when he joined us at WSU, and he garnered it just like in the dream (except in real life, it took a lot more hard work than in the dream) :).

Sarah Patrick likewise accepted an offer from her first-choice postdoctoral fellowship at The Ann Arbor VA/University of Michigan consortium, where she is currently on internship.

Gavin Sanders is first author of a publication in Brain Injury:
Sanders, G., Rapport, L. J., Marwitz, J. H., Novack, T. A., Walker, W., Tefertiller, C., . . . Zhang, Y. (2023). Barriers to driving and psychosocial outcomes after traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 1-10. doi:10.1080/02699052.2023.2172611. See the abstract on PubMed.

Jeremy Grant is first author of a publication in Applied Neuropsychology:
Grant, J. G., Rapport, L. J., Darling, R., Waldron-Perrine, B., & Bernitsas, E. (2023). Incremental validity of brief and abbreviated neuropsychological tests toward predicting functional outcomes in multiple sclerosis. Applied Neuropsychology: Adult, 1-11. doi:10.1080/23279095.2023.2176766. Download a free copy of the article here.

Rebecca De La Garza crushed it at the ReBUILD poster day as the first author of our lab project, “Alexithymia Predicts Face Emotion Perception after Acquired Brain Injury.”
Rebecca De La Garza, Robiann Broomfield, Emily Flores, Jo Blocton, Darius Vann, & Lisa J. Rapport. See her poster here

Breaking news: Our Southeastern Michigan Traumatic Brain Injury System (SEMTBIS) research project was renewed for the 2022-2027 cycle of the national collaborative Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS). This $2.4 million grant is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).

Dr. Robin Hanks, Professor and Chief of Psychology and Neuropsychology at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan is the Project Director for the SEMTBIS, overseeing collaboration with the national TBIMS sites, and Lisa Rapport will be the primary investigator on the site-specific study. Other key collaborators include Professor and biostatistician Scott Millis, as well as Peter Lichtenberg, Director of the Institute of Gerontology, who will serve as the consultant on the grant. Historically, many NeurAL students have used the support and resources of the SEMTBIS (e.g., access to the large, rigorously-vetted participant pool with moderate to severe TBI) to complete their research projects.

We’re very proud of NeurAL members Sarah Patrick and Gavin Sanders, who matched for internship at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the VA Cincinnati Health Healthcare Centers, respectively.