STUDYING MEMORY, LANGUAGE,
AND LONG-TERM OUTCOMES
OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Principal Investigator:
Melissa C. Duff, PhD, CCC-SLP
OUR METHODS
We combine neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and eye-tracking methods with behavioral methods to study memory and language processing, how it breaks down in patients with memory disorders, and the factors that facilitate recovery and functional outcome following different forms of brain injury.
Our lab houses and directs the Brain Injury Patient Registry. The Registry is a repository of demographic information, and state of the art neuropsychological, neuroanatomical, and outcome data from individuals with focal lesions and traumatic brain injury, which serves as a unique resource for conducting large-scale basic and translational research in the area of acquired brain injury.
OUR RESEARCH
OUR FOCUS
We study the role of memory in language use and social interaction and the consequences of memory disorders on language and communication. We also study long-term outcomes in individuals with traumatic brain injury and other forms of cognitive or memory impairment.
BRAIN INJURY PATIENT REGISTRY
Principal Investigator:
MELISSA C. DUFF, Ph.D, CCC-SLP
Dr. Melissa C. Duff is a Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Her research focuses on the role of memory in language and social interaction. Her work pays special attention to the role of the hippocampal-dependent memory system in language use and processing and in flexible cognition more broadly. Dr. Duff also conducts work in the area of acquired brain injury and is interested in factors that influence long-term outcome. She is the founder and director of the Brain Injury Registry.
Dr. Duff has an established record of research funding from the National Institutes of Health, and is the author of more than 100 research publications. She was named Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2018 and was named Deans Scholar in 2015 at the University of Iowa, where she was a faculty member until 2016.
CONTACT US
Tel: 615-544-5147
10th Floor
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center East
South Tower