Alice Medalia, PhD

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Dr. Medalia has been instrumental in raising awareness about the need to address cognition as a central aspect of health related to functional outcome. Her key contribution to psychiatry relates to her application of motivation theories to the treatment of cognitive disorders, and more generally psychiatric rehabilitation. Medalia identified the need for the treatment of cognition to move beyond theories of neuroplasticity, to embrace an understanding of how people learn. She developed the widely used Neuropsychological & Educational Approach to Remediation (NEAR) model of cognitive remediation, which has been disseminated worldwide in psychiatric, educational, forensic, and supportive housing settings and used with people diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Medalia has primary research interests in treating cognition, improving motivation, and facilitating recovery among people with mental illness. She is the principal researcher in several NIMH funded studies, and a prolific writer. Dr. Medalia is a leading proponent for the need to address cognition as a central aspect of health related to functional outcome for people living with persistent mental illness. In 1998, she established and continues to direct the world’s largest conference on this topic, Cognitive Remediation in Psychiatry, now hosted by Columbia University. She lectures and consults to agencies worldwide and conducts training workshops for clinicians to learn the techniques of cognitive remediation for psychiatric patients. By focusing on cognitive health in addition to mental health, cognitive remediation seeks to improve critical thinking skills, enabling people to be more effective in their daily lives and pursue their goals for recovery in a purposeful and meaningful way.