Professor Vicki Anderson

BA (Hons), MA (Clin Neuropsych), PhD

Director, Psychology, Royal Children's Hospital
Professorial Fellow, Departments of Psychology & Paediatrics, University of Melbourne

Contact details:

Professor Anderson is a paediatric neuropsychologist of some 20 years experience. She started her career working at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, where she worked as a clinician, and then Co-ordinator of Neuropsychology Services, until taking up a lectureship at the University of Melbourne. In 2002 she was appointed Professor/Director of Psychology at the Royal Children' s Hospital. Her interests are in disorders of childhood that impact on the central nervous system, including both developmental and acquired disorders. She has published over 70 papers in this field, and has obtained competitive research grants totalling over $2,000,000. Her research group has recently established the Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies (CNS), at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She has recently been appointed Director, Critical Care and Neurosciences Research at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

She serves as consulting editor on a number of prestigious international neuropsychology journals including the Journal of the Neuropsychological Society and Child Neuropsychology, Child Neuropsychology, and Pediatric Rehabilitation, and is Associate Editor of the APA journal, 'Neuropsychology'. She has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and two books in the field (co-authored): Developmental Neuropsychology: A Clinical Approach, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Disease for our Time.

She has have served on the Board of Governors of the International Neuropsychological Society, and have had a long-term involvement, at an executive level, with the Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment and has been President of the Society.

Research Interests:

• Behavioural Neuroscience
• Clinical Neuropsychology
  • Child Clinical Neuropsychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:

• Fellow, Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment
• Australian Psychological Society
• American Psychological Association
• International Neuropsychological Society

Recent Funded Research:

Books:

Anderson, V., Northam, E., Hendy, J. & Wrennall, J. (2001). Pediatric neuropsychology: A Clinical Approach. London: Psychology Press.

Manly, T., Anderson, V. & Robertson, I., & Nimmo-Smith, I. (1999). The Test of Everyday Attention for Children. London: Thames Valley Test Company.

Refereed Journal Articles:

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Dudgeon, P., Morse, S., Haritou, F, & Rosenfeld, J. (2006). Understanding predictors of functional recovery and outcome thirty-months following early childhood head injury.  Neuropsychology, 20, 42-57.

Catroppa, C. & Anderson, V.  (2006) Planning, problem solving and organizational abilities in children following TBI:  Intervention techniques.  Pediatric Rehabilitation, 9, 89-97.

Anderson, V. & Catroppa, C. (2005). Recovery of executive skills following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI): A two year follow-up.  Brain Injury, 19(6), 459-470.

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Morse, S., Haritou, F. & Rosenfeld, J. (2005). Functional plasticity or vulnerability following early brain injury?  Pediatrics., 116, 1374-1382.

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Morse, S., Haritou, F. & Rosenfeld, J. (2005). Identifying factors contributing to child and family outcome at 30 months following traumatic brain injury in children.  Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 76, 401-408.

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Morse, S., Haritou, F. & Rosenfeld, J., (2005).  Attention skills two years after traumatic brain injury in early childhood.  Brain Injury, 19, 699-710.

Anderson, V., Jacobs, R., & Harvey, A.H. (2005). Prefrontal lesions and attentional skills in childhood.  Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11, 817-831.

Bauld, C, Toumbourou, J. Anderson, V., & Coffey, C. (2005).  Health-risk behaviours among adolescent survivors of childhood cancer.  Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 45, 706-715.

Brewer, W., Francey, S., Wood, S., Jackson, H., Pantelis, C., Phillips, L., Yung, A., Anderson, V., & McGorry, P. (2005).  Memory impairments identified in people at ultra-high risk for psychosis who later develop first-episode psychosis.  American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 71-78.

Carboon, I., Anderson, V. A., Pollard, A., Szer, J., & Seymour, J. F. (2005). Global meaning, posttraumatic growth and emotional adjustment to a recent cancer diagnosis.Traumatology 11, 269-283.

Catroppa, C. & Anderson, V. (2005). A prospective study of the recovery of attention from acute to 2 years post pediatric traumatic brain injury.  Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11, 84-98.

Clausen, H., McCrory, P., & Anderson, V. (2005). The risk of chronic traumatic brain injury in professional boxing: Change in exposure variables over the past century.  British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39, 661-664.

De Costa, A., Savarirayan, R., Wrennall, J., Walters, I., Gardiner, N., Tucker, A., Anderson, V., & Meara, J.  (2005). Neuropsychological diversity in Apert Syndrome:  A comparison of cognitive profiles.  Annals of Plastic Surgery, 54, 450-455.

Lajoie, G., Anderson, V., Tucker, A., Robertson, I., & Manly, T.  (2005). Effects of methylphenidate on attention skills in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.  Brain Impairment, 6, 21-32

Anderson, V., Morse, S., Catroppa, C., Haritou, F. & Rosenfeld, J. "Thirty-Month Outcome from Early Childhood Head Injury: A Prospective Analysis of Neurobehavioral Recovery", Brain, 127, pp 2608–2620.

Anderson, V., Anderson, P., Grimwood, & Nolan, T. (2004). "Survivors of Childhood Bacterial Meningitis: Impact of Neurological Complications and Age at Illness 12 Years Post-illness", Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 29, pp 67–81.

Stuss, D. & Anderson, V. (2004). "The Frontal Lobes and Theory of Mind: Developmental Concepts from Adult Focal Lesion Research", Brain and Cognition, 55, pp 69–83.

Anderson, V., Anderson, P., Northam, E., Jacobs, R., & Catroppa, C. (2001). "Development of Executive Functions through Late Childhood and Adolescence in an Australian Sample", Developmental Neuropsychology, 20, pp 385–406.

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Haritiou, F., Morse, S., Rosenfeld, J. & Stargatt, R. (2001). "Predictors of Acute Child and Family Outcome Following Traumatic Brain Injury in Children", Pediatric Neurosurgery, 34, 138–148.

Anderson, V. & Moore, C. (1995)." Age at Injury as a Predictor of Outcome Following Pediatric Head Injury", Child Neuropsychology, 1, pp 187–202.

Anderson, V., Morse, S., Klug, G., Catroppa, C., Haritou, F., Rosenfeld, J. & Pentland, P. (1997). "Predicting Recovery from Head Injury in Young Children", Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 3, pp 568–580.

Anderson, V., Catroppa, C., Morse, S., Haritou, F., & Rosenfeld, J. (2000). "Recovery of Intellectual Ability Following TBI in Childhood: Impact of Injury Severity and Age at Injury", Pediatric Neurosurgery, 32, pp 282–290.

Invited lectures based on research (national and international conferences)

2006

March, 2006.  Invited keynote address.  Do children’s brains really recover better?  West Coast Neuropsychology Conference, San Diego, USA.

March, 2006.  Invited  keynote address.  Do children’s brains really recover better?  DoCog Pediatric Neuropsychology Conference, Sydney

August, 2006.  Invited keynote address.  Advances in the assessment of executive functions in children.  American Psychological Association, New Orleans, USA.

2005

January, 2005:  Invited address.  What predicts outcome from childhood brain injury? Institute for Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

April, 2005:  Invited workshop:  Christchurch, NZ:  Clinical psychology Section.  Advances in Child Neuropsychology Assessment

April, 2005:  Invited workshop:  Christchurch, NZ:  Clinical psychology Section. Specific learning disability

April, 2005:  Invited workshop:  Christchurch, NZ:  Clinical psychology Section. ADHD:  Neuropsychological contributions

April 2005. Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment, Perth Advances in Child Neuropsychology Assessment

April 2005, Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment, Perth: Traumatic brain injury in childhood.

October, 2005.  Invited Workshop. New Zealand College of Clinical Psychology, Annual Conference:  Case Analysis in Child Neuropsychology

October, 2005:  Invited Presentation, University of Auckland, New Zealand.  Cerebral plasticity after childhood brain injury: Is it a myth?

November, 2005:  Invited address. World Congress in Neurology.  Traumatic brain injury in children