Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Jacob Varela, Psy.D. (Rhode Island Hospital, 9/1/23-8/31/25) graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in psychology in 2016 and began his doctorate in clinical psychology at Regent University in 2018. He targeted his coursework, research, and clinical training in clinical neuropsychology soon thereafter, resulting in several peer reviewed publications and academic awards including an academic merit scholarship, Greiffenstein-Kaplan honorable mention at the 2021 American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology conference, inspiring and outstanding graduate awards, and the honor of being the student speaker for the Regent University College of Health and Behavioral Sciences 2023 graduation ceremony. Following graduation, he completed his clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship at the University of Missouri, Department of Health Psychology, where he focused his clinical and research training in neuropsychology and published a peer reviewed article in neuropsychological assessment feedback practices that resulted in winning the annual TCN/AACN student project competition. In September 2023, he began his postdoctoral fellowship at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University within the Clinical Neuropsychology Specialty Program (CNSP). Here, his training has involved providing comprehensive outpatient neuropsychological evaluations at The Miriam Hospital (TMH) and Rhode Island Hospital (RIH), inpatient neuropsychological consultation at RIH, and research investigating nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease as well as the clinical utility of visual short-term memory binding among those at risk for neurodegeneration. He has accepted a position as a clinical neuropsychologist at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Hospital where he will contribute to a robust neuropsychology service and provide mentorship to neuropsychology trainees.