Welcome from the Division Director
We welcome you to the Division of Neuropsychology at the University of Iowa Health Care!
Our Division has a long history of being a world leader in neuropsychological assessment. We carry on a strong tradition of neuropsychological assessment that dates to the 1950’s and the early work of Arthur L. Benton, PhD, one of the founders of the field. We continue to be leaders in the field of neuropsychology to this day. We have an outstanding clinical staff of licensed and board-certified clinical neuropsychologists, residents, technicians and graduate students and a long history of providing high quality, cutting-edge neuropsychological services. Our goal is to provide patients (and caregivers) empathic and supportive diagnostic and treatment information that will empower them to cope successfully with challenging neurological conditions.
The Benton Clinic serves approximately 2000 patients per year with specialized diagnostic and rehabilitation services. Many neuropsychological tests that now enjoy widespread clinical utilization have been developed here. A wide variety of neuropsychological services are provided, ranging from brief consultations that may take no longer than an hour, to comprehensive evaluations that may take up to 6 hours of test administration. We provide services to monolingual Spanish speaking patients (and Spanish-speaking patients with low English proficiency) using a fluent Spanish speaking provider (including reports translated into Spanish). Referral sources are located throughout the UIHC, including the departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Internal Medicine, and Family Practice. We also receive many referrals from outside sources from around the state and throughout the Midwest region.
Thank you for visiting.
Daniel Tranel, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Department of Neurology
What is Neuropsychology?
The Division of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience includes a clinical component (Benton Neuropsychology Clinic) and a research component (Cognitive Neuroscience).
The Benton Neuropsychology Clinic provides comprehensive neuropsychological assessments of patients with known or suspected brain dysfunction or psychological conditions. The clinic is staffed by board-certified clinical neuropsychologists. Patients are referred when there is a question of impairment in cognitive, behavioral, or psychological functioning that requires specialized assessment to assist in diagnosis and management or treatment. Differentiating neurological from psychological causes of cognitive and behavioral dysfunction is also a common referral question. Broadly, clinical neuropsychology deals with the behavioral manifestation of brain dysfunction, and the goal of neuropsychological assessment is to quantify the various factors comprising cognitive function (intellectual ability, memory, attention/concentration, visuospatial/visuoconstructional abilities, speech and language, executive functioning) and psychological function (emotion, personality, behavior). Furthermore, neuropsychological assessment is helpful in identifying possible causes of cognitive difficulties, and provides the basis for recommendations for management and treatment.
With information gathered during the neuropsychological evaluation, we are able to provide a detailed, comprehensive picture of a patient’s cognitive and behavioral functioning. This information allows for diagnosis of common cognitive disorders such as dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and assists in diagnostic determination of specific etiologies. In addition to dementia (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy Body dementia), other common types of patients served include those with: movement disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s disease); autoimmune diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis); epilepsy; cerebrovascular diseases/stroke; traumatic brain injury/concussion; cancer; psychological conditions (e.g., depression; anxiety; posttraumatic stress disorder; conversion, somatoform, and functional neurological disorders); complex medical conditions (e.g., HIV); forensic evaluations (e.g., workers’ compensation evaluations); and neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., intellectual disability).
Recommendations and guidelines pertaining to the practical implications of findings are provided (e.g., ability to work, live independently, drive, manage finances and medications, make independent decisions, other routine and complex activities of daily living). Additionally, we routinely recommend a variety of interventions that are specifically geared towards supporting and enhancing the patient’s neuropsychological functioning. A common example includes a recommendation for our neuropsychological rehabilitation service, through which we are able to provide individualized suggestions for treatment. The Cognitive Rehabilitation Clinic is staffed by one of our board-certified neuropsychologists and a licensed mental health counselor specializing in cognitive rehabilitation.
The Cognitive Neuroscience research component includes extramurally grant-funded scientists who specialize in studying brain-behavior relationships for complex cognitive and behavioral functions. A unique resource is the Iowa Neurological Patient Registry, which includes thousands of individuals who have been extensively studied in terms of their brain lesions and their cognitive/behavioral functioning. Using this resource, scientists have discovered the neural correlates of memory, speech and language, emotion and decision-making, and general intelligence. These discoveries are translated into patient applications by using the knowledge to guide the neuropsychological assessments conducted in the Benton Clinic. Our faculty includes several clinician-scientists who function as both clinical providers and basic scientists and who can effectively translate science findings into clinically useful applications. Other major domains of study include dementia, caregiver well-being, susceptibility to fraud and scams in older persons, and tele-neuropsychology.
Division Faculty Members
Explore more about our faculty's expertise, innovative research, and contributions to advancing patient care.
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"My fellowship at the University of Iowa has been incredibly rewarding. The program’s welcoming and supportive faculty has empowered me to embrace my identity as a future neuropsychologist and prepared me to work in a hospital/academic setting, where I aspire to expand access to care for minority and underserved communities. Most importantly, I’ve been given the opportunity to provide neuropsychological services in Spanish to the Hispanic community in Iowa. As a Latina woman, this has been a profoundly meaningful experience, allowing me to give back to my community while growing both