Dr. Valera will present Concussions aren’t just for athletes anymore: Neuropsychological and neuroimaging correlates of concussions in women subjected to intimate-partner violence.
Dr. Valera is an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a Research Scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has been working in the field of domestic violence for nearly 25 years. Her current work uses a range of methodologies to understand the neural, neuropsychological and psychological consequences of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) resulting from intimate partner-violence (IPV). She published one of the first studies examining the prevalence of IPV-related TBI and its relationship to cognitive and psychological functioning, and has more recently provided the first neural mechanistic evidence of IPV-related TBI. Her work is ongoing and expanding to address other potential neural consequences of TBIs from partner violence.