The Pediatric Neuropsychology track will offer one position for the 2024-2025 training year. The Pediatric Neuropsychology track intern will be provided with one of the most unique pediatric psychology internships in North America.
In addition to receiving clinical neuropsychology training at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), the intern will spend two days per week at the Sununu Youth Services Center—an inpatient treatment center serving the juvenile justice population.
Training will encompass neuropsychological evaluation, team-based care, academic consultation, and forensic clinical psychology intervention and assessment. The intern’s experience will be rounded out by formal didactics with both neuropsychology and clinical psychology trainees at DH, exposure to neuroimaging, and protected time for pediatric neuropsychology research.
Interns will also participate in the multidisciplinary Epilepsy Surgical Planning Conference. Specific neuropsychology didactics are offered in conjunction with the Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Residency Program at DHMC, including Sports Neuropsychology and Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology.
Clinical training sites
DHMC outpatient pediatric neuropsychology services
DHMC is located in Lebanon, New Hampshire. DHMC is the regional academic medical center where faculty and trainees of Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth provide direct care to patients from throughout New England. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Service at DHMC primarily serves an outpatient population, with occasional medical inpatient consultations. Referrals come from a wide variety of sources such as Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Genetics, Hematology/Oncology, and Internal Medicine, as well as other medical sections at DHMC. Referrals also come from sources in the regional communities including school systems, health care providers, and community mental health centers. Patients are referred for evaluation of problems related to cognition, learning, and performance, secondary to underlying conditions such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, genetic syndromes, childhood cancer and brain tumor, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. DHMC is also considered the academic home of the internship program, and serves at the educational hub for the program. Interns complete their didactic training elements at DHMC as well.
Sununu Youth Services Center
Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC) is located in Manchester, New Hampshire. SYSC provides residential and treatment services to court-placed youth ages 12 to 17 in a secure setting. The daily census at SYSC ranges from approximately 10 to 20 youth at any given time. Youth at SYSC are either detained for short periods of time (up to approximately three weeks) or committed for between three to six months before eligible for parole. SYSC promotes a positive youth development model, as well as restorative practices. The larger team at SYSC is comprised of the facility psychologist and psychiatrist, residential youth counselors, clinical department, medical department, education department, permanency and transition department, as well as facility supervisors and administration.
Interns completing a rotation at SYSC spend two days per week providing a wide variety of mental health treatment services to youth and families involved in the juvenile court system. Training experiences in this setting include diagnostic and neuropsychological evaluations, psychosocial assessments, development and execution of individual treatment plans, brief and short-term individual and family psychotherapy, opportunities to co-lead clinical groups (e.g., anger management, life skills, substance awareness), participation in weekly clinical case reviews with staff from various disciplines, collaborating with permanency staff on community transitional services, and opportunities to write court reports, parole reports, and participate in parole hearings for youth.
Training faculty (pediatric neuropsychology track)
Jennifer Amato, PsyD (Antioch University—New England) – Dr. Amato is a Pediatric Neuropsychologist at DHMC and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth since 2020 Dr. Amato’s clinical work focuses on the neuropsychological evaluation of children from a developmental perspective. Dr. Amato specializes in autism, providing assessment for diagnosis and intervention in toddlers through young adults. Her research concerns the impact of obstetric complications and adverse childhood experiences upon neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological outcomes.
Jonathan Lichtenstein, PsyD, MBA (Widener University) – Dr. Lichtenstein joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at DHMC and Geisel School of Medicine in 2014. He serves as the Director of Neuropsychology, as well as overseeing the fellowship program and clinical services in Pediatric Neuropsychology and Sports Neuropsychology. He specializes in the clinical management of sport-related concussions in adolescents and traumatic brain injury across the lifespan. His research focuses on the development of novel assessment and intervention practices for vulnerable pediatric populations to ultimately improve their quality of life.
Samantha Morin, PhD (Fordham University) – Dr. Morin joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at DHMC and Geisel School of Medicine in 2020. She provides services as the Child/Adolescent Psychologist and Supervisor of Clinical Services at Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC), a secure treatment facility for court-placed youth. She specializes in child and adolescent development, trauma-informed care, evidence-based treatment programming, and assessment and treatment of high-risk adolescent populations. She is currently developing and implementing evidence-based programming at SYSC including positive interventions and supports, a trauma-informed milieu, and clinical treatment.