HNS is proud to recognize Dr. Jacqueline Valdes as the January 2012 Member of the Month.
Hometown: I was born in Brooklyn, New York, however, moved to Connecticut at age 4 and grew up in a small town, Trumbull, Connecticut. After college, I moved to South Florida and have been living in the Fort Lauderdale area since 1986.
Employer: Primarily in my private practice in Hollywood, Florida. However, I also have a number of contracts with hospitals including supervising a Neuropsychology Rotation and Interns at South Florida State Hospital, an APA approved internship.
Clinical population you work with: I work with the entire lifespan from infants to geriatrics. I have been lucky to have had a diverse practice which keeps me on my toes and also allows me to continue to develop and grow in my skills. My work with children includes tracking development of premature babies, providing evaluations for children with tumors, leukemia, seizures, head trauma, autism and ADHD/learning disabilities. With adults, I consult for a local Multiple Sclerosis Clinic and Memory Disorder Center and also receive consults for head trauma from a local hospital. About 1/3 of my practice involves forensic neuropsychological assessment for attorneys primarily related to traumatic brain injury and medical malpractice.
Research interests and/or current research projects: I am currently involved in a Department of Defense Grant through a local hospital in which we are assessing the efficacy of different interventions for severe traumatic brain injury including hypothermia and magnesium treatment upon admission to hospital trauma center. I also have a strong interest in neuropsychological interventions for children who have brain tumors and leukemia and have been trying to get support for a study that will look at various medical, rehabilitative and psychological interventions for attention difficulties that often develop due to high dose chemotherapy and radiation.
How did you get bitten by the Hispanic neuropsychology bug? While in graduate school I was primarily interested in being a pediatric psychologist and had focused my practicum and work experiences with children. Following my third year of graduate school, a fellow student and friend had been interested in neuropsychology and asked me to join her for a pre-APA workshop in Atlanta in neuropsychology. I initially told her that wouldn’t be something I thought I’d be interested in, but she enticed me with the promise of some fun nightlife in Atlanta if I went along with her. The student rate was inexpensive so I decided to join her for what ended up being Reitan’s three day Basic Workshop. From Day 1, I was riveted by an aspect of psychology that I was totally unaware of. That decision changed the course of my entire career. I postponed applying for internship and was able to work with a local neuropsychologist for a year to obtain additional experience and was lucky to have a wonderful mentor who supported my development clinically primarily with adult populations and also helped me to shift my dissertation to assessing premorbid intellect in dementia patients. I was able to obtain an internship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and had a wonderful neuropsychology supervisor, Dr. Wilma Rosen who also continued to support my development. Being in little Dominican Republic in New York City and the only Spanish bilingual intern resulted in the beginning of my development into Hispanic neuropsychology.
If you had to pick one place in your current town to take a tourist where would you go and why? While South Beach and the Hard Rock Casino is where everyone wants to go when they come to visit South Florida, taking an Air Boat Ride through the Everglades with alligators all around in the mangroves is typically the experience they don’t forget. If you have never seen an alligator wrestling show or had an alligator nipping at the side of the boat you are in, it is an experience to remember.
Name one thing not many people know about you? Most people do not realize that I am of Middle Eastern background. Both of my parents were born in Cairo, Egypt, my grandfathers were born in Syria and Cairo, my grandmother from Alexandria, Egypt and my other grandmother was born in Aleppo, Italy. My family had to leave Egypt due to religious persecution as we are Jewish and the climate in the Arab countries after Israel came to be in 1948 was dangerous. Like many other immigrants, they had to leave with whatever they could carry on their backs and my family dispersed to Israel, the United States and Brazil.
What is something you’ve won and how did you win it? In high school, I entered a cooking contest and won first prize for my chocolate almond rum cake and second prize for my chili con carne. Cooking has continued to be something that I love to do for my family and those recipes continue to be favorites with my chocolate rum cake a tradition at family holidays.
If given a choice to skip work for a day, how would you spend the day? Spending time with my husband and two children are at the top of the list. We love to travel and because we are so close, we are able to take quick day trips to the Bahamas or Florida Keys which are favorites for my kids.