Anthony Y. Stringer, PhD, ABPP
Clinical Neuropsychology

Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where he directs the Emory School of Medicine Division of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology. Dr. Stringer earned his doctorate at Wayne State University, completed internship at Lafayette Clinic in Detroit, MI, and did his fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Florida. He has been board certified since 2004, and was the first African American neuropsychologist to gain certification. He is also the first African American President of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 40/Society for Clinical Neuropsychology) and of the National Academy of Neuropsychology.  Dr. Stringer is the author of A Guide to Adult Neuropsychological Diagnosis, is the lead editor of Pathways to Prominence in Neuropsychology, and is the developer of the Ecologically-oriented Neurorehabilitation programs.  Dr. Stringer has been an invited speaker at national and international scientific meetings related to his research in cognitive rehabilitation.

Q. What motivated you to seek board certification in neuropsychology?
A.  I earned my doctorate at a time when board certification was very new, but achieving this credential was always my goal. Board certification provides the clearest evidence that you have the professional training and experience to serve the public as a neuropsychologist.

Q. Looking back, what misconceptions did you have about the ABPP/ABCN credentialing and examination process that you would like future applicants to know?
A.  Perhaps because of the kind of competitive academic environments that I was used to, I expected the process of becoming board certified to be adversarial.  It was not.  Indeed, it was the opposite of adversarial.  I count it as one of the most collegial experiences of my professional career.

Q. What was the most challenging/interesting/surprising aspect of the board certification process?
A.  I found the oral examination to be both the most interesting and challenging part of the process.  The challenge for me was that I am an internal processor.  I think a long time before I speak.  My examiners wanted me to talk as I was thinking.  I tried, but I could not avoid having some fairly long latencies before I said what was on my mind.  This may have unnerved a couple of my examiners.  Fortunately, what I eventually did say was on target.  What made the process interesting was the opportunity it gave me to review loads of material before I sat for the written and oral exams.  I learned and relearned a lot about neuropsychology as I prepared for the exams, and many things jelled for me in a new way.  Preparing to become board certified actually made me a better neuropsychologist. 

Q. What might you consider doing differently based on what you learned?
A.  I prepared entirely on my own and I didn’t make much progress at first.  A back injury put me on bed-rest for a month.  With nothing else to do, I studied for the written exam. If it hadn’t been for that injury, I probably would not have found the time to prepare as well as I did.  If I had to do this again, I would join a study group to help me stay on schedule.  I’ve advised all my junior colleagues at Emory to do that, and it seems to have paid off.  We have more board certified neuropsychologists at Emory than at any other institution in Georgia.

Q. What advice would you give to a candidate for board certification in neuropsychology?
A.  Resist the temptation to skip doing a fellowship. Resist the temptation to leave fellowship early for a job. You need to complete a 2-year fellowship to become board certified, and frankly, you need to do this to become a competent neuropsychologist. Work hard to get a good fellowship.  A program affiliated with the Association of Postdoctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology (APPCN) is ideal.  If that isn’t possible, then make sure the fellowship you do follows Houston Conference Guidelines.  The compromises you make in this area will come back to haunt you. So don’t compromise. Do what is required.

Q. ABCN encourages applications from under-represented minority groups in neuropsychology.  What advice would you give a minority applicant?
A.  Do not allow yourself to feel intimidated by the process.  Both ABCN and AACN are committed to attracting under-represented minorities to neuropsychology.  Both organizations have Diversity Committees.  I have been a member of both these committees and have served as chair of one of them.  The entire time I have been associated with ABCN, my top priority has been making the examination process accessible to minority candidates.  There are board certified neuropsychologists of European American, African American, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and other backgrounds, who voluntarily serve as mentors to applicants.  Don’t be shy about requesting a mentor who shares your ethnic or cultural background, if you think that will help you.  And don’t be shy about contacting ABCN with questions about your future options while you are still a student, intern, or post-doc. It is a lot easier to help a graduate student avoid a future mistake about their training, than it is to help someone whose mistakes are already in the past.

Q. What did you learn about yourself, or in what ways do you see yourself differently having completed the board certification process?
A.  I felt confident in my professional abilities before becoming board certified.  If you asked me then whether my confidence would have increased as a result of board certification, I would have said no.  However, to my surprise, it did.

Q. What have you found most valuable or rewarding about board certification?
A.  While I have never done a lot of forensic work, every deposition I had ever done prior to board certification included a half-dozen questions challenging my credentials as an expert in neuropsychology.  These days, I just say I am certified by the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, and no further questions are asked.  That feels good.  Or as good as anything can feel while you are being deposed.  And, without question, I have developed many new collegial relationships through AACN and my work on the ABCN board. 

Q. How has your professional life changed since attaining board certification?
A.  Perhaps the biggest change is that I have now served on the ABCN Board.  It has been an incredible amount of work, but it has also brought far more satisfaction than I expected.  It feels as if I am making an important contribution to my profession.

Q. What is the most interesting/challenging/rewarding/fulfilling aspect of your work as a neuropsychologist?
A.  I love the fact that every patient potentially can teach me something new about the human brain.  I love the creative opportunities that come from figuring out how to help sometimes catastrophically injured patients put their lives back together.  There is no work I would rather do, and no job I feel better suited for. 

Q. What would readers be most surprised to learn about you?
A.  Besides being a neuropsychologist, I was once a fairly decent drummer.  I auditioned and was chosen to play drums as part of a drum core in the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.  I was on the field while Muhammed Ali lit the Olympic Torch.  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.