Colette M. Smart, Ph.D.
Area of Specialty : Neuropsychology, Neurodegenerative Disease/Dementia, Acquired Brain Injury
Professional Appointments : Staff Neuropsychologist, the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute and JFK-Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at JFK Medical Center , Edison , NJ
Graduate Education : Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology, JFK Medical Center , Edison, NJ, 2006-2008. Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Loyola University Chicago , 2003-2006. Pre-Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Medical College of Cornell University, 2005-2006 . M.A. in Clinical Psychology, Loyola University Chicago , 2001-2003. M.A. in Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1995-1999.
Research Interests : Dr. Smart's clinical and research interests pertain to factors that predict independent functioning in elderly individuals with neurodegenerative and/or acquired brain injury. Much of the current research on the elderly focuses on memory; however, executive functions are often the strongest neuropsychometric predictor of functional status in the geriatric population. As such, Dr. Smart is currently working on developing a cognitive rehabilitation intervention targeting executive functioning that would enhance and prolong functional status in cognitively at-risk elderly. She hopes to recruit a mixed-etiology sample including both patients with neurodegenerative diseases as well as those with geriatric head injury. Dr. Smart also has a strong interest in neuroscientific applications of mindfulness meditation. In collaboration with Drs. Azulay and Cicerone of the Johnson Rehabilitation Institute, she is currently conducting a pilot clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for individuals with mild traumatic brain injury/post-concussive syndrome.
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships : Arthur J. Schmitt Dissertation Fellowship, Loyola University Chicago, 2004-2005. Nominee, Midwestern Association of Graduate Students' Distinguished Masters Thesis Award, 2004. Research Fellowship, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland , 2001.
Representative Publications :
Smart, C. M. , Nelson, N. W., Sweet, J. J., Bryant, F. B., Berry , D. T. R. Granacher, R. P., & Heilbronner, R. L. (2008). Use of MMPI-2 to identify cognitive effort: A hierarchically optimal classification tree analysis. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14 , 842-852.
Vanhaudenhuyse, A., Giacino, J., Schnakers, C., Kalmar , K., Smart, C. M. , Bruno, M.-A., Gosseries, O., Brédart, S., & Laureys, S. (2008). Blink to visual threat does not herald consciousness in the vegetative state. Neurology, 71 , 1374-1375.
Smart, C. M. , Giacino, J. T., Cullen, T., Rodriguez Moreno , D., Hirsch, D., Schiff, N. D., & Gizzi, M. (2008). A case of locked-in syndrome complicated by central deafness. Nature: Clinical Practice Neurology, 4 , 448-453.
Evans, S., Ferrando, S., Findler, M., Stowell, C., Smart, C. M. , & Haglin, D. (2008) Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22 , 716-721.
Giacino, J. T., & Smart, C. M. (2007). Recent advances in behavioral assessment of individuals with disorders of consciousness. Current Opinion in Neurology, 20 , 614-619.
Bryant, F. B., King, S., & Smart, C. M. (2006). Multivariate Statistical Strategies for Construct Validation in Positive Psychology. In A. D. Ong and M. van Dulmen (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Methods in Positive Psychology (pp. 112-153).
Bryant, F. B., Smart, C. M. , & King, S. (2005). Using the past to enhance the present: Boosting happiness through positive reminiscence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6 , 227-260.