Brief Biography

Maureen Dennis is a neuropsychologist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). She conducts clinical research into questions of brain-behaviour relations in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, children with traumatic brain injury, and adult survivors of neurodevelopmental disorders

Research Interests

• Neuropsychological function in developmental disorders of childhood
• Cognitive and brain function in adult survivors of neurodevelopmental disorders
• Brain imaging of neurodevelopmental disorders
• Late neurocognitive effects of acquired traumatic brain injury
• Social outcomes of acquired traumatic brain injury
• Attention and language in neurodevelopmental disorders and acquired brain injury

Research Activities 

The old and the new: Supratentorial MR findings in Chiari II malformation.
Miller E, Widjaja E, Blaser S, Dennis M, Raybaud C:

Future Research

To relate cognitive processing to morphometric analyses of magnetic resonance brain imaging. Our particular interest in future research is in brain structure-cognitive function relations in neurodevelopmental disorders.

• Acquired attentional deficit secondary to CNS prophylactic treatment in childhood ALL: a pilot study.

External Funding

• 2005-2010. Spina bifida: Cognitive and neurobiological variability. [US National Institutes of Health]
• 2005-2010. Social outcomes in pediatric traumatic brain injury. [US National Institutes of Health]
• 2007-2010. Attention and traumatic brain injury. [Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation]

Achievements

• Commonwealth Scholarship
• Benton Mid-Career Award, International Neuropsychology Society
• Fellow, American Psychological Association

Publications

Juranek J, Fletcher JM, Hasan KM, Breier JI, Cirino PT, Alvarez PP, Diaz JD, Ewing-Cobbs L., Dennis M, Papanicolaou AC. Neocortical reorganization in spina bifida. NeuroImage.doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.01.043

Miller E, Widjaja E, Blaser S, Dennis M, Raybaud C: The old and the new: Supratentorial MR findings in Chiari II malformation. Child's Nervous system. PMID: 18026960

Barnes MA, Dennis M, Huber Okrainec J, Johnson A: A model of comprehension in spina bifida myelomeningomyelocele: meaning activation, integration and revision. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2007: 13: 854-864.

Yeates KO, Bigler ED, Dennis M, Gerhardt CA, Rubin KH, Stancin T, Taylor HG, Vannatta K: Social outcomes in childhood brain disorder: a heuristic integration of social neuroscience and developmental psychology. Psychological Bulletin 2007: 133: 535-556.

Dennis M, Jewell D, Drake, J, Misakyan T, Spiegler B, Hetherington R, Gentili F, & Barnes M. Prospective, declarative, and non-declarative memory in young adults with spina bifida. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2007:13: 312-323.

Dennis M, Jewell D., Edelstein K, Brandt M, Hetherington R, Blaser SE, Fletcher J: Motor learning in children with spina bifida: Intact learning and performance on a ballistic task. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2006, 12: 598-608.

Dennis M, Landry SH, Barnes M, Fletcher JM: A model of neurocognitive function in spina bifida over the lifespan. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2006: 12: 285-296.

Dennis M, Yeates KO, Taylor HG, Fletcher JM. Brain reserve capacity, cognitive reserve capacity, and age-based functional plasticity after congenital and acquired brain injury in children. In: Cognitive Reserve (Stern Y ed.). Psychology Press, New York 2006: pp 53-83.

Dennis M. Prefrontal cortex: typical and atypical development. In: The Frontal Lobes: Development, Function And Pathology (Risberg J, Grafman J eds.). Cambridge University Press, New York 2006: pp. 128-162.

Dennis M: Language meaning and form disorders of childhood. In: Lifespan Cognition: Mechanisms of Change (Craik FIM, Bialystok E eds). Oxford University Press, New York 2006: pp 533-567