Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated exposure to brain trauma. Relevant clinical studies have connected CTE with an increased risk for cognitive and behavioral difficulties including within the Veteran population. This presentation will provide an overview of what CTE is including clinical features and why it is important to consider in our current and future work with veterans.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) including mechanisms of injury and severity levels.
2. Review updated CTE research including what is known and where additional research is needed.
3. Explore clinical features of CTE including possible cognitive and behavioral correlates.
4. Review clinical implications in working with adults presenting with brain injury and behavioral dysfunction.

Funding for this webinar has been provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

Speaker:

Dr. Meghan Geiss is a neuropsychologist at the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, an acute rehabilitation inpatient unit for veterans and active-duty service members presenting with acquired traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other neurological illnesses at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. She received a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and earned her Ph.D. in counseling psychology at the University of Memphis. She completed her clinical internship at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida, where she worked with veterans in polytrauma settings.

She has concentrated her clinical and research efforts on acute and post-acute rehabilitation issues among U.S. veterans with a history of TBI, including sleep behaviors. Ms. Geiss is a member of the American Psychological Association Divisions 40 (Society of Clinical Neuropsychology) and 22 (Society of Rehabilitation Psychology), the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the National Academy of Neuropsychology.