Dr. Peter Arnett home page

Peter Arnett Laboratory

PSU Sports Concussion
Neuropsychology Program

PSU Neuropsychology
of MS Program

	students / training
	Jessie Meyer			Victoria Merritt
	Jessie joined the lab in fall 2011. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Kenyon College she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, assisting with clinical neuropsychological evaluations and working on clinical drug trials for Huntington's Disease. She is excited to get involved in the sports concussion program and hopes to work on improving test selection, interpretation, and development. Welcome to Penn State, Jessie!			Victoria joined our lab in the fall of 2011. She earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 2008, and after graduation, accepted a clinical research position at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, DC. While at WRAMC, Victoria's primary focus was on research related to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Over the past two years, she was involved in a longitudinal study exploring the natural history of TBI in the military population. Victoria is excited to be at PSU, and is looking forward to getting involved in Dr. Arnett's Sports Concussion Program. Welcome to Penn State, Jessie!

	Dede Ukueberuwa			Gray Vargas
	Dede is in her 3rd year in the lab. She completed her undergraduate degree at Princeton University and then pursued a post-baccalaureate program at NIH. Dede has nearly completed her Master’s thesis and is focusing on a project that examines the relationship between fatigue and cognitive functioning in multiple sclerosis (MS). Dede is also planning on adding her expertise in neurophysiology to the expansion of our MS research into exploring primary neurological factors underlying emotional and cognitive dysfunction in MS.			Gray is currently in her 4th year in the lab. She coordinates the PSU concussion program and is also involved in the lab's Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research project. Gray has defended her Master’s Thesis examining attributional styles in MS patients. She has given talks at the annual INS conferences in Boston and Acapulco, Mexico. She has also presented posters at INS and NAN annual meetings. She won first place in Social and Behavioral Sciences for her poster presented at the Penn State University Graduate Research Exhibition last year.

	Amanda Rabinowitz			Fiona H. Barwick
	Amanda is currently on internship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She hails from Philadelphia where she attended the University of Pennsylvania. Amanda has research interests in both multiple sclerosis and sports-related concussion. She is particularly interested in applying advanced quantitative methods to the understanding of these complex clinical phenomena. Amanda's Master's Thesis, entitled "A Longitudinal Analysis of Coping, Cognitive Dysfunction, and Depression in Multiple Sclerosis" has been published in Neuropsychology. She currently has another first author publication under review, entitled "Neurovegetative Symptoms of Depression in Multiple Sclerosis: Fatigue Not Depression." In May 2010 Amanda successfully proposed her Dissertation thesis entitled "Intraindividual Variability as a Method of Assessing Motivation in Baseline Concussion Testing." Amanda served as the project coordinator for the PSU Sports-Related Concussion Program, an experience which she enjoyed immensely. Amanda is our resident iron chef and a 2-time eating champion!			Fiona has graduated from the lab. She coordinated the PSU concussion program and was a very positive influence on our whole graduate program. She completed her dissertation exploring base rates of cognitive impairment in collegiate athletes at risk for concussion. Congratulations, Fiona! She also successfully defended her Master's thesis entitled, “Relationship between Intellectual Decline and Depression in an MS Population.” Fiona is also a secondary author on several published MS-related articles. In addition to her positive intellectual and interpersonal influence on our program, Fiona is our resident wine connoisseur.

	Lauren B. Strober			Jared M. Bruce
	Lauren is currently a Research Scientist at Kessler Rehabilitation where she recently began working following the completion of her post-doc at the Cleveland Clinic. During her last year at Penn State, she was awarded the Liberal Arts’ Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research in spring, 2006. Lauren successfully proposed her dissertation entitled, “Depression in Multiple Sclerosis (MS): The Distinction Between MS and Depressive Symptomatology and Utility Of Self-Report Instruments” in August, 2006. We miss Lauren’s great sense of humor and valuable leadership among her fellow students here at Penn State. We will also miss Lauren’s great parties at her place “out in the country” in Boalsburg! Good luck in your new research position, Lauren!			Jared is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri. Congratulations, Jared! Jared completed his internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University School of Medicine. Jared has published a number of high profile articles based on our work together, and many of these can be found on the “Select Publications” page. Jared has blazed an impressive trail for his fellow neuropsychology graduate students and we look forward to following his career as he moves on to bigger and better things.

	Megan M. Smith			Dawn M. Polen
	Megan is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa School of Medicine. She recently started work there after completing her post-doc at Brown University School of Medicine. Congratulations, Megan! Megan successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “Awareness of Executive Functioning Deficits in Multiple Sclerosis: Self Versus Informant Ratings of Impairment in Patients Versus Controls and Their Relationship with Objective Cognitive Performance” in August, 2006. A research paper from this dissertation has been accepted at the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, and will soon appear in print. Good luck with your new position, Megan!			Dawn successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “MS Control, Coping, and Social Support: Relationship to Depression in Multiple Sclerosis” in August, 2006. Dawn also successfully completed her internship at the Tampa VA in Florida in August, 2006. Congratulations, Dawn! Dawn is currently conducting therapy and neuropsychological assessments at Florida Atlantic University.

	Aaron Rosenbaum			Christopher M. Bailey
	Aaron successfully defended his dissertation, entitled, “The Development and Validation of a Survey to Measure Athletes’, Coaches’, and Athletic Trainers’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Concussion” and recently had the first paper from this appear in print in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. Following his dissertation, he worked as an Instructor in the Psychology Department at Penn State. He recently took a job with a survey research firm in Philadelphia. Good luck, Aaron! In addition to his dedication to the sports concussion program, Aaron is known for his annual "Rosenbowl" party during the Super Bowl each year.			Chris recently took a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Case Western Reserve University. Congratulations, Chris! Chris completed his internship at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill School of Medicine and his postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Chris successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “Premorbid Measures And Sports-Related Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Appropriateness And Accuracy” in July, 2006. Not only do we miss Chris’s valuable leadership among his fellow students here at Penn State, but we miss Chris’s presence on the basketball court with our intramural teams!


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