Welcome to the newest member of the Health, Brain & Cognition Lab team, Post Baccalaureate Research Assistant Alei Rehovsky. As Alei prepares for graduate school and a clinical and research career, she’ll be utilizing her psychological training and work experience as a psychometrist to recruit, screen and consent, and collect data from participants in the HBC Lab’s cognitive research projects. She is already spending much of her time working out of the University of Iowa’s new Cedar Rapids research hub, utilized by HBC and two other labs.
“Alei has made a big impact already in the lab,” says HBC Lab Director Michelle Voss. “She has been a leader in developing protocols for expanding our research to Cedar Rapids, has been active in community outreach, and is developing exciting research questions. We're so excited to have her on our team!”
“I will be conducting neuropsychological assessments while coordinating participant recruitment for our BOOST Observational study at our Cedar Rapids site. After I get familiar with my responsibilities, I plan to supervise undergraduate students in taking on some duties and set aside time to work on independent research with the help of Dr. Voss,” says Alei, who recently moved to Cedar Rapids from Fargo, North Dakota.
Raised in Alexandria, Minnesota, Alei received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology from the University of North Dakota in December 2022. After graduation, she worked as a psychometrist for a year and a half at Sanford Brain and Spine Clinic in Fargo, administering neuropsychological tests to a wide population of patients.
“About three-fourths of the patients I saw were older adults with memory concerns, often with diagnoses of Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementias,” she says. “Another quarter of patients were adults coming in for a variety of reasons such as ADHD evaluations, traumatic brain injuries, pre- and post-organ transplants, or developmental disorders.”
That experience, she says, lines up with her career goals and helped prepare her for HBC Lab research, which focuses on the effects of physical activity and computerized cognitive training on the aging brain.
“My work as a psychometrist taught me a lot about the use of neuropsychology and its importance in the field for diagnosis and treatment plans. It also gave me a clearer understanding of how different parts of the brain function independently and together and how it affects all of us, often in different ways” says Alei. “It made me even more excited to pursue a career in the field.”
“I wanted to get more research experience under my belt so that I would be better prepared for graduate school. When I came across this job, I took what I had learned as a psychometrist and my interest in gaining experience with imaging and the study of aging and knew it was the perfect opportunity.”
Alei plans to earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology with eventual board certification in clinical neuropsychology. “After my education, I want to work in both a research and clinical setting with the hopes of working closely with older adult populations and doing more research regarding Alzheimer’s and other dementias,” she says.
Having grown up in the lake country of northern Minnesota, she’s also eager to get acquainted with Iowa’s rivers, lakes and other outdoor attractions in her free time.
— Emery Styron
