Researcher

Dr Adam Bentvelzen

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Clinical neuropsychology, Memory and attention, Psychology of ageing, Cognitive neuroscience, Geriatrics and gerontology

SEO tags

Neurodegenerative Disorders Related to Ageing

Health Related to Ageing

Ageing and Older People

Biography

Adam first joined the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) Memory Clinics team at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) as a Research Assistant in August 2020. From January 2021 he has worked as a Research Fellow in this role, primarily to advance the harmonisation of cognitive assessments in ADNeT Memory Clinics, and develop training materials and workshops for neuropsychologists, other psychologists, and other clinicians involved in the...view more

Adam first joined the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) Memory Clinics team at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) as a Research Assistant in August 2020. From January 2021 he has worked as a Research Fellow in this role, primarily to advance the harmonisation of cognitive assessments in ADNeT Memory Clinics, and develop training materials and workshops for neuropsychologists, other psychologists, and other clinicians involved in the assessment of Memory Clinics patients. He also currently works as a Clinical Neuropsychologist (MAPS, FCCN) in private practice at MQ Health, Macquarie University Hospital Clinic where he primarily works with the assessment and rehabilitation of middle-aged to older adults with ageing-related neurocognitive disorders, stroke, brain injury, and mental health concerns. Adam has a PhD/Master of Clinical Neuropsychology and was awarded the University Medal for his academic performance during his B Psychology (Honours I) at the University of Sydney.

Meet Our Researcher
Click here to read Dr Adam Bentvelzen's ‘Meet Our Researcher’ interview

My Qualifications

Professional qualifications

Clinical Neuropsychologist
Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS)
Fellow of the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists (FCCN)
Psychology Board of Australia (PBA) approved supervisor

Academic qualifications

PhD/Master of Clinical Neuropsychology, Macquarie University, 2017
B Psychology (Honours I), University of Sydney, 2007
B Communication (Writing), University of Western Sydney, 2001

My Awards

Macquarie University Postgraduate Research Fund (PGRF) award with Deputy Vice Chancellor's Recommendation (2012)
University Medal, University of Sydney (2007)
Lithgow No VII Scholarship for best student in Senior Psychology (2006)

My Research Activities

Neuropsychological Assessment of Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Reserve

Adam has written a chapter on cognitive ageing with CHeBA researchers for an upcoming neuropsychology textbook. This chapter will be a comprehensive guide based on the latest quality research aimed to help neuropsychologists understand the cognitive changes that occur with healthy ageing, the protective effects of cognitive reserve, and how best to distinguish age-related changes from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

Telephone-based cognitive screening for older adults

Adam previously worked with the Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) study at CHeBA from 2017 to 2020 as a Research Assistant. He has continued involvement with MAS researching the efficacy of an phone-based cognitive screening instrument used by MAS, the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-Modified (TICS-M), for which he has published normative and validation data.

Best practice for measurement of changes related to dementia

Prior to joining MAS, Adam worked at the Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration (DCRC) where he helped Prof Henry Brodaty and colleagues produce the Dementia Outcomes Measurement Suite (DOMS), a set of recommended measures aimed at improving the standard, uniformity and accessibility of dementia assessment measures used by clinicians and researchers: http://dementiakt.com.au/doms/

Improving nonverbal memory tools for the assessment of temporal lobe epilepsy

Adam’s research interests revolve around clinical application, particularly to help Clinical Neuropsychologists detect memory disorders early and accurately in persons with conditions such as temporal lobe epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative conditions. In this vein, his PhD thesis centred around improving the assessment of memory disorders and risk of memory decline in patients with right medial temporal lobe epilepsy that require surgery for the relief of medically intractable seizures.

My Research Supervision

Supervision keywords

Areas of supervision

I am available to supervise students in 2024 (Honours, ILP or Masters only, not PhD).

Currently supervising

I am currently supervising 3 Master of Clinical Neuropsychology students at Macquarie University, and providing assistance as needed to other researchers on projects involving their students.

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