Alana Sabelli

Windsor, ON, Canada · sabelli1{at}uwindsor{dot}ca

I am a first year graduate student in the Clinical Neuropsychology Program at the University of Windsor. I am a member of both the Adult Neuropsychology Research Group under the supervision of Dr. Laszlo Erdodi and the Experimental and Clinical Neuropsychology Lab under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Abeare. My current research focuses on psychometric assessment and optimizing clinical tools to better assess neuropsychological functioning specifically in brain injury populations. My other research interests include psychosocial outcomes after brain injury and the use of performance validity instruments in assessment.


Education

University of Windsor

MA/ PhD- Clinical Neuropsychology
2019 - 2025 (expected)

University of Windsor

Bachelor of Science (Hons).- Behaviour, Cognition and Neuroscience

Graduated with Great Distinction (Top Honours)

2014 - 2018

Publications

Journal Publications

Abeare, C. A., Sabelli, A. G., Taylor, B., Dumitrescu, C., Kirsch, N., & Erdodi, L. A. (2019). The importance of demographically adjusted cutoffs: Age and education bias in raw score cutoffs within the Trail Making Test. Psychological Injury and Law, 12(2), 170-182.

Erdodi, L. A., Taylor, B., Sabelli, A. G., Malleck, M., Kirsch, N. L., & Abeare, C. A. (2019). Demographically adjusted validity cutoffs on the Finger Tapping Test are superior to raw score cutoffs in adults with TBI. Psychological Injury and Law, 12(2), 113-126.

Olla, P., Rykulski, N., Hurtubise, J. L., Bartol, S., Foote., R., Cutler, L., Abeare, K., McVinne, N., Sabelli, A. G., Hastings, M., & Erdodi, L. A. (2019). Short-term effects of can. consumption of cognitive performance in medical can. patients. (Advance Online Publication). Applied Neuropsychology: Adult.

Erdodi, L.A., Sabelli, A.G., An, K., Hastings, M., McCoy, C., & Abeare, C.A.(2019). (Accepted). Introducing a five-variable psychiatric screener based on the Visual Analog Scale (V-5). Psychology & Neuroscience.

Erdodi, L., Shahein, A., Fareez, F., Rykulski, N., Sabelli, A.G, & Roth, R. M. (2019). (Accepted). Increasing the cutoff on the MMSE and DRS-2 improves clinical classification accuracy in highly educated older adults. Psychology & Neuroscience.

Erdodi, L.A., Kirsch, N.L., Sabelli, A.G., & Abeare, C. (2018). The Grooved Pegboard Test as a validity indicator- A study on psychogenic interference as a confound in performance validity research. Psychological Injury and Law, 11, 307-324.

Tyson, B.T., Baker, S., Greenacre, M., Kent, K., Lichtenstein, J.D., Sabelli, A.G, & Erdodi, L.A. (2018). Differentiating epilepsy from psychogenic non-epileptic seizures using neuropsychological test data. Epilepsy & Behaviour, 87, 39-45.

REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Sabelli, A.G., Sirianni, C.D., Abeare, C.A., & Erdodi, L.A. (2020, Feburary). Performance Validity Cutoffs Developed for the CPT-II Can Be Applied to the CPT-3. Poster accepted for presentation at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.

Sabelli, A.G., Taylor, B., Rykulski, N., Abeare, C., & Erdodi, L.A. (2019, February). Demographically Adjusted Cut-offs Are Necessary to Protect Against False Positive Errors on the Trail Making Test as a Performance Validity Indicator in Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury. Poster presented at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY

Sabelli, A.G., Charron, C.M., Seke, K.R., & Erdodi, L.A. (2018, June). Demographically Adjusted Cut-offs Protect against Age and Gender Bias in the Finger Tapping Test as an Embedded Validity Indicator. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, San Diego, CA.

NON-REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Sabelli, A.G., Charron, C.M., Seke, K.R., & Erdodi, L.A. (2018, March). Demographic Influences in Performance Validity Testing. UWill Discover Undergraduate Research Conference, Windsor, ON. (Oral presentation).


Awards & Certifications

  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2020-2021
  • CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (CGS-M) 2019-2020
  • The Byron Rourke Scholarship in Clinical Neuropsychology 2019
  • Master’s Entrance Scholarship- University of Windsor
  • President’s Honour Roll University of Windsor (90% and above GPA 2014-2018)
  • Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Course on Research Ethics

Research Experience

Research Assistant in Neuropsychology

University of Windsor

Administering neuropsychological assessments, investigation of the classification accuracy of psychometric assessments.

April 2017 - Present

Research Assistant in Neurobiology

University of Windsor

Researching olfactory epithelial cells through tissue dissection, staining, and imaging.

October 2015 - May 2017

Research Assistant in Child Psychology

University of Windsor

Transcribed phone interviews regarding fathers’ physical play with their children with autism into coded scripts.

April 2015 - September 2015

Teaching Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant

University of Windsor

Courses: F19 Abnormal Psychology, W20 Test and Measurements, S20 Intro to Clinical Psychology

September 2019- December 2019

Lead Teaching Assistant

University of Windsor

Course: Learning and Behaviour. Lecturing class once a week on course material for a 50-minute period, grading course assignments, tests, and administering exams.

September 2017- April 2018

Relevant Coursework

Clinical Assessment I

Assessment of intellectual, cognitive, academic, and adaptive functioning using the WAIS-IV, WF:AS, WISC-V. Tasks include test administration, scoring, case presentations and report writing.

Psychopathology

Applying diagnostic problem solving to clinical cases. Tasks include writing and communicating effective diagnostic assessment reports at an introductory level.

Biological Basis of Behaviour

Theoretical course on identification of relevant brain structures and their relationship to specific cognitive functioning.


Interests

When I am not researching or reading a textbook about the brain, you can probably find me spending time with my friends, family, and rescue dogs. I am a true lover of animals and foster dogs through an organization called “For the Love of Paws” (if you are in the Windsor-Essex or Ottawa area, check them out!). I also enjoy volunteering with my local Brain Injury Association in my spare time and helping out with their various support groups and events.

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