UCalgary’s Keith Yeates ends his term as president of International Neuropsychological Society

Dr. Keith Yeates, PhD, head of the Department of Psychology and president of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) will be stepping down from his presidential role this week in New York City at the INS’s annual meeting, as his three-year term comes to an end.

With an expected attendance of about 2,500, the annual meeting is expected to be the largest in the INS’s 52-year history.

Yeates – who is also a member of Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine – feels proud to have had the opportunity to lead the INS.

“It really is the flagship scientific organization for those who do neuropsychological research,” says Yeates, who’s been a member of the INS for over 25 years. “With more than 4,700 members it’s the biggest international organization focused on the science of brain and behavior and the bringing of that science to application and dissemination.”

Of his time served as president, Yeates takes the most pride in moves made to make INS “truly international.”

“Our members are still, predominantly, North American and we’re striving to live up to our name as an international organization and really reach out to the rest of the world,” he says. “We’ve rejigged out membership fee structure, because we realized that people who do neuropsychological work in other parts of the world, particularly in low and middle income countries, couldn’t afford our dues. We’ve also signed memorandums of understanding with other international organizations in Europe, Australasia and Africa.”

The Faculty of Arts will be sponsoring a reception at the INS event.

Now that he’s concluding his INS presidency Yeates is focusing on a new role, beginning his six-year term as editor of the journal Neuropsychology, published by the American Psychological Association. He hopes to bring the same international and interdisciplinary perspective to the journal as he did as president of INS.

Led by the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Brain and Mental Health is one of six research strategies guiding the University of Calgary toward its Eyes High goals. The strategy provides a unifying direction for brain and mental health research at the university and positions researchers to unlock new discoveries and treatments for brain health in our community.