Abstracts - Society for Black Neuropsychology

Aikisha Harley, PhD

Dr. Aikisha Harley is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist. She earned her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology at Palo Alto University. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Loma Linda VA and a two-year neuropsychology postdoctoral residency at Kaiser Permanente, Roseville. Through her various training opportunities, she refined her neuropsychological assessment skills of individuals across the lifespan with various neurological, medical, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric disorders.

Currently, she is a Neuropsychologist at San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) where she not only conducts evaluations with an ethnically diverse population of English and non-English speaking adults and seniors, but she is also working alongside the department to help re-design Neuropsychological Services to emphasize cross-cultural assessment. Additionally, she is the supervising neuropsychologist for neuropsychology trainees at SMMC.

Her research interests include neurodegenerative disorders, the impact of mood on cognitive functioning, movement disorders, and cognitive aging.

Kharine Jean-Buissereth, PhD

Dr. Kharine Jean-Buissereth is a 1st year Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Georgia State University. She completed her Clinical Psychology PhD at the University of Georgia where she was a Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Predoctoral Fellow. She completed her clinical psychology internship at the University of Florida – neuropsychology track.

Her research interests are in understanding the role of genetic, biological, and environmental risk and protective factors that impact cognition and functional independence in older adults. She is particularly interested in understanding how racism impacts social determinants of health (e.g., socioeconomic status, education access and quality) and contributes to racial and ethnic health disparities in normal and pathological cognitive aging.

Providing mentorship, support, and resources to others pursuing higher education, especially those pursuing the field of neuropsychology are Dr. Jean’s passions. Increasing the quality of education and overall well-being of those who have been intentionally and historically marginalized is her purpose.

Sakina Butt, PsyD, ABPP

Dr. Sakina Butt is a Pediatric Neuropsychologist and Post-Doctoral Fellowship Training Director at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. She is board certified in clinical neuropsychology, with sub-specialty designation in pediatric neuropsychology. She completed her doctoral degree at Florida School of Professional Psychology, and completed an APA accredited doctoral psychology internship and postdoctoral psychology fellowship at The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Following fellowship, she obtained medical staff appointment at Tampa General Hospital where she completed neuropsychological evaluations for a diverse pediatric population within the outpatient and inpatient settings. She transitioned to medical staff at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (JHACH) in 2019 with clinical focus being the assessment of neurodevelopment for patients 5 years of age and younger and research focus being the feasibility of longitudinal monitoring and outcomes for this population. She was named the Neuropsychology Fellowship Training Director within one year of joining JHACH. She supports JHACH efforts towards diversity and inclusion by serving on the DEI committee.

As for professional service, she is a general member of the APPCN Board of Directors and ABCN Board of Directors. She serves as part of the oral examiner cadre for the ABPP clinical neuropsychology board examination, as well as a practice sample reviewer for the pediatric subspecialty examination. She has had the privilege of being on the planning commission and served as a delegate for the Minnesota Update Training Conference. She was co-chair of the 51st annual meeting of International Neuropsychological Society (INS) in February 2023, and is a member of the INS special interest group focused on neuropsychological assessment of babies, infants, and toddlers (BITSY SIG). In addition to the service for neuropsychology, she serves on the APA Commission on Accreditation.

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