Bio:
Mary V. Spiers, PhD, is a professor emeritus of Psychology at Drexel University and a licensed Clinical Psychologist specializing in Neuropsychology. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is the co-author of 2 textbooks in Neuropsychology and has published and presented over 30 papers, articles and chapters.
Spiers’ research and clinical expertise is in two areas. The first is in neuropsycholgical assessment with a focus on everyday problems of memory. Before coming to Drexel, she was instrumental in the development of a multidisciplinary memory disorders clinic in the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. At Drexel she has studied Cognitive Factors in Medication Adherence and developed the “Cognitive Screening for Medication Self-Management” to assess memory and cognitive problems in daily medication taking. Recently, she has focused on the development of ecologically valid spatial memory tests within a virtual reality (VR) environment. She has taught a variety of graduate courses related to clinical assessment and memory including Neuropsychological Assessment, Neuropsycholgical Case Analysis, and Models of Memory in Neuropsychology.
Spiers' related area of focus is in individual difference issues in cognitive functioning particular to sex and gender. She leads the Women's Cognitive Health Research Group at Drexel University whose aim is to investigate variation in brain functioning through the influence of sex and gender, the menstrual cycle, genetics/handedness, experience and culture. She also seeks to understand the neuropsychological issues that have been understudied and/or are unique to women. The current focus within this group is the study of spatial performance, spatial memory and strategy variation within women and men.