Robert Stern, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Co-Director, Alzheimer's Disease Clinical & Research Program
 Phone: 617-638-5678
Fax: 617-414-1197
Email: bobstern@bu.edu
Location: BU School of Medicine, Robinson Building – Suite 7800
Background
Dr. Robert Stern received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island . He completed his neuropsychology internship training at the Boston VA Medical Center, under the supervision of Dr. Edith Kaplan, and his postdoctoral fellowship training in both neuropsychology and psychoneuroendocrinology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. He was on the faculty at UNC from 1990-1993, where he was Associate Director of the NIMH-funded Mental Health Clinical Research Center and Director of the Neurobehavioral Assessment Core. He then joined the faculty at Brown Medical School, where he was Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, as well as Director of Neuropsychology and the Memory and Cognitive Assessment Program at Rhode Island Hospital. In 2004, Dr. Stern joined the Boston University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology as an Associate Professor. In addition to being a researcher and educator, Dr. Stern is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist on staff at Boston Medical Center and is a member of the Boston University Neurology Associates.
Research Interests
Dr. Stern’s primary areas of funded research include cognitive and emotional aspects of dementia, thyroid-brain relationships, driving and dementia, and HIV-associated brain dysfunction. His current research program involves studies of the role of thyroid functioning in Alzheimer’s disease, caregiver intervention projects, and the development and validation of tests of memory and other cognitive functions. He has published on various aspects of neuropsychological assessment and is the senior author of several widely used neuropsychological tests and instruments, including the Boston Qualitative Scoring System for the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (BQSS), the Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS), and the recently published Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB), a comprehensive battery of 33 new tests, the development of which was funded, in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health.
ADC role
Dr. Stern is the Co-Director and the Director of Neuropsychology of the BU Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical and Research Program (ADCRP). He also serves as Associate Director of the Clinical Core of the NIA-Funded BU Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADC). He oversees the neuropsychological aspects of the clinical research studies and trials being conducted in the center and is the primary mentor of several students and trainees. In addition, he is the site neuropsychologist for the Alzheimer’s Disease Anti-Inflammatory Prevention Trial (ADAPT) and is the principal investigator of the Driving and Dementia project. Dr. Stern is the Director of the neuropsychology fellowship program at the ADCRP.
Awards/Memberships
Dr. Stern is a Fellow of both the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the American Neuropsychiatric Association. He is also a longstanding member of the International Neuropsychological Society and the American Psychological Association, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialites (Neuropsychology). He has received an Independent Investigator Award from the National Alliance on Research in Schizophrenia and Depression and, while at Brown Medical School , was the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award in Psychology. Dr. Stern is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the National Graves’ Disease Foundation, and has been a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer’s Association, and other local and national foundations and agencies.
Publications
Recent peer-reviewed publications of Dr. Stern’s work include:
Chung WW, Chen CA, Cupples LA, Roberts JS, Hiraki SC, Nair AK, Green RC, Stern RA. A new scale measuring psychological impact of genetic susceptibility testing for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 2008. (In press). [PDF]
Hubbard EJ, Santini V, Blankevoort CG, Volkers KM, Barrup MS, Byerly LK, Chaisson C, Jefferson AL, Kaplan E, Green RC, Stern RA. Clock drawing performance in healthy elderly. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. [PDF]
Ashendorf L, Jefferson AL, O’Connor MK, Chaisson C, Green RC, Stern RA. Trail making test errors in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. (In press).
Jefferson AL, Wong S, Bolen E, Ozonoff A, Green RC, Stern RA. Cognitive predictors of HVOT performance differ between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and normal controls. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2006; 21:405-412. [PDF]
Cahn-Weiner, D.A., Williams, K., Grace, J., Tremont, G., Westervelt, H., & Stern, R.A. (2003). Discrimination of dementia with lewy bodies from Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease using the clock drawing test. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 16: 85-92. [PubMed]
Davis, J.D. , Stern, R.A., & Flashman, L. (2003). Cognitive and neuropsychiatric aspects of subclinical hypothyroidism: Significance in the elderly. Current Psychiatry Reports, 5: 384-390. [PubMed]
Legendre, S.A., Stern, R.A., Solomon, D.A., Furman, M.J., & Smith, K.E. (2003). The influence of cognitive reserve on memory following electroconvulsive therapy. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 15: 333-339. [PubMed]
Westervelt, H.J., Stern, R.A., & Tremont, G. (2003). Odor identification deficits in diffuse lewy body disease. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 16: 93-99. [PubMed]
Temple, R.O. Stern, R.A., Latham, J., Ruffolo, J.S., Arruda, J.E. & Tremont, G. (2004). Assessment of Mood State in Dementia by Use of the Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS). American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12: 527-530. [PubMed]
Stern, R.A., Davis, J.D., Rogers, B.L., Smith, K.M., Harrington, C.J., Ott, B.R., Jackson, I.M.D., & Prange, A.J. Jr. (2004). Preliminary study of the relationship between thyroid status and cognitive and neuropsychiatric functioning in euthyroid patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 17: 219-223. [PubMed]
Brown, L.B., Stern, R.A., Cahn-Weiner, D.A., Rogers, B., Davis, M.A., Lannon, M.C., Maxwell, C., Souza, T., White, T., & Ott, B.R. (2005). Driving Scenes test of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) and on-road driving performance in aging and very mild dementia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20: 209-215. [PubMed]
Dr. Stern’s curriculum vitae
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