Neuropsychiatry

The Brigham and Women’s Department of Psychiatry is committed to advancing clinical care, education and research in the emerging field of neuropsychiatry – a rapidly advancing medical subspecialty devoted to understanding and treating cognitive, emotional, behavioral and perceptual symptoms in terms of localized brain dysfunction. 

Neuropsychiatric Clinical Services:  The Center for Brain/Mind Medicine

Recent developments in neuroscience allow for increased understanding of the cerebral substrates of cognition, emotion, perception and behavior.  Faculty for the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine are academic clinicians and researchers trained in a variety of disciplines bridging the mind/brain interface.  They utilize this understanding to provide evaluation and treatment to patients with complex clinical pictures that may not be fully understood within the traditional boundaries of neurology and/or psychiatry. 

This integrated neuropsychiatric approach is ideal for patients with neurologic disorders such as multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, dementia, epilepsy, tumor, stroke, and head trauma who are experiencing difficulties with, or changes in, cognition, emotion, perception or behavior, either as a direct result of the neuropathology or as part of the individual’s response to it.  It also allows for a comprehensive evaluation of possible neurologic contributions to an atypical psychiatric condition.  The Memory Disorders Unit focuses upon the evaluation, study and treatment of memory difficulties and dementias including Alzheimer’s disease.

Faculty and Staff of the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine

Behavioral Neurology
Kirk Daffner, MD, Chief, Center for Brain/Mind Medicine
Dilar Acar, MD
Keith Johnson, MD
Gad Marshall, MD
Scott McGinnis, MD
Jeremiah Scharf, MD, PhD
Dennis Selkoe, MD
Benjamin Seltzer, MD
Reisa Sperling, MD
Christopher Wright, MD, PhD

Neuropsychiatry
David Silbersweig, MD, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry
Jane Epstein, MD
Barry Fogel, MD
Melissa Frumin, MD
Olivia Okereke, MD
Laura Safar, MD
Gaston Baslet, MD
Nancy Donovan, MD

Neuropsychology
Aaron Nelson, PhD, Chief Neuropsychology
Angeles Cheung, PhD
Mary-Ellen Meadows, PhD
Dorene Rentz, PsyD
Meghan Searl, PhD

Social Work
Jeffrey Robbins, LICSW
Eileen Salmanson, LICSW
Stacey Schamber, LICSW

Memory Disorders Unit  
Reisa Sperling, MD, MMSc, Co-Director
Dennis Selkoe, MD, Co-Director
Kirk Daffner, MD, Co-Director
Keith Johnson, MD
Gad Marshall, MD
Scott McGinnis, MD
Dorene Rentz, PsyD
Martha Vander Vliet, RN
Meghan Frey, MA

Neuropsychiatric Education and Training

The Brigham and Women’s Department of Psychiatry provides education and training in neuropsychiatry for all residents, fellows and medical students on the psychiatry service.   In addition, it offers more intensive training in neuropsychiatry for those wishing to specialize in the field.

Didactic Sessions
Medical students completing the Principle Clinical Experience at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital participate in the Integrative Brain/Mind Medicine curriculum throughout their rotations on neurology, psychiatry and radiology.  This 12-week course, sponsored by the departments/divisions of neurology, psychiatry and neuroradiology, focuses on the integration of information and perspectives from the varied medical specialties devoted to the brain, including neurology, psychiatry, neuroradiology and neurosurgery, with a focus on neuropsychiatry.

Residents in the Longwood Psychiatry Residency Program participate in numerous didactic sessions devoted to topics in neuropsychiatry, concentrated mainly during the third and fourth years of the residency.  In addition, fellows in Psychosomatic Medicine participate in didactic sessions on a variety of neuropsychiatric topics.

Clinical Conferences and Supervision
Residents, fellows and medical students participate in supervised monthly neuropsychiatric clinical conferences on the Consultation-Liaison Service, as well as on the inpatient unit located at the Faulkner Hospital.  Residents also participate in neuropsychiatric evaluations while on the psychiatry outpatient service.  In addition, interdisciplinary rounds involving behavioral neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, neuropsychologists and social workers are held weekly on the outpatient unit of the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine.  

Specialized Training
Trainees with a particular interest in neuropsychiatry can undertake dual residency training in neurology and psychiatry involving multiple opportunities for clinical work, research and supervision in integrated neuropsychiatry. 

Alternately, or in addition, trainees may undertake UCNS-accredited post-residency fellowship training in neuropsychiatry/behavioral neurology The fellowship provides intensive experience and supervision in the evaluation and treatment of neuropsychiatric cases in the context of an interdisciplinary team approach, as well as formal didactics and a journal club.  Fellows in Geriatric Psychiatry also rotate through the behavioral neurology/neuropsychiatry outpatient unit.

For further information on dual neurology/psychiatry residency training, please contact Dr. Jane Epstein  jiepstein@partners.org

For further information on fellowship training in behavioral neurology/neuropsychiatry, please contact Dr. Kirk Daffner kdaffner@partners.org or call (617)732-8060

Click here for information about Neuropsychiatric Research.