Jacob Jones, B.A., Recipient – 2012 APA Division 40 Student Research Award

Jacob Jones is currently in his second year of graduate school, in the neuropsychology tract within CHP. Jacob’s research submission to the 2012 meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) was selected as the top rated student poster in “evidence-based neuropsychological practice”.  This award is made annually by Division 40 (Neuropsychology) of the APA for the purpose of identifying “cream of the crop” posters based on scientific merit and impact.  Jacob received this award for his master’s thesis project   “Health Comorbidities and Cognition in a Clinical Sample of 403 Parkinson Disease Patients”.  This project examines the role that common health conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, have on cognitive functioning in Parkinson disease, above and beyond that associated with disease-specific neural changes.  Jacob is part of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, whose research primarily focuses on cognitive and emotional sequelae of Parkinson disease.  This project is one of many that Jacob has been working on under the guidance of Dr. Dawn Bowers, and in collaboration with UF’s Center of Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration.