The July meeting was hosted at the home of Dr. Elaine Salzer, and our guest speaker was our President-Elect Dr. John Fanning. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Memphis in 1983, after having earned his bachelor’s degree at Texas Tech University, and his master’s degree at Stephen F. Austin State University. He completed his internship at the New Orleans VA Medical Center. He currently is in private practice, focusing on clinical neuropsychology and clinical psychology, and working in brain injury rehabilitation and neuropsychological assessment as his primary practice areas. He is a past-president of the Louisiana Psychological Association, as well as the New Orleans Neuropsychological Society.
Dr. Fanning explained that given the increasing proportion of the population in older age groups, the neurocognitive disorders of later life – particularly Alzheimer’s disease – have become critically important mental health and public health challenges. As evidence-based practitioners, we must use the research to develop interventions for these disorders, which affect a third or more of people in their eighties and beyond. However, developments in recent years have led researchers to realize that actually we know less than we thought about Alzheimer’s disease. As a result, we find ourselves rethinking and re-evaluating the critical issues involving etiology, treatment and research approaches. He traced the development of past research ideas, reviewed the effectiveness of tested interventions, and discussed some of the new areas currently being investigated.