Kevin Duff, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurology
Neuropsychologist, Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging and Research

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Excellence in Neuropsychology

Dr. Duff has specialized in neuropsychology for nearly 10 years. He has had a remarkably productive career, and is recognized among his colleagues as one of the rising stars of neuropsychology. His commendable research career has included studies of aging, practice effects, mild cognitive impairment, and Huntington's Disease.

Dr. Duff joined the University of Utah in September 2009 as Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, and Neuropsychologist for the Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging and Research (CACIR).

Academic History

Dr. Duff completed his undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and received an MA in Psychology at the University of Northern Colorado. He obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany. He completed his neuropsychology internship at the Southern Arizona Healthcare System in Tucson, AZ, and his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

He joined the Psychiatry Department at the University of Iowa in 2003, where he accrued extensive teaching experience and had clinical and research responsibilities working with patients with dementia, Huntington's disease, and a variety of other neuropsychiatric conditions.

Dr. Duff is a member of the American Psychological Association, International Neuropsychological Society, National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), and the Huntington's Study Group. He is an Associate Editor for Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. In 2008, Dr. Duff received the Early Career Award from NAN for his outstanding contributions to the field of neuropsychology. In 2009, NAN awarded him the Nelson Butters Award for publishing the most influential paper in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology over the past year.

Research Interests

Dr. Duff conducts research in clinical neuropsychology, aging and dementia. His primary areas of interest include longitudinal cognitive assessment, practice effects as an indicator of cognitive plasticity, and cognitive decline in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. He currently leads an NIH-funded study that seeks to predict dementia using practice effects, and he has studied their implication in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Duff's extensive work with Huntington's disease has focused on psychiatric and cognitive functioning, particularly psychiatric and cognitive changes that occur in individuals before they develop Huntington's. Dr. Duff's research has been widely published in scientific journals and he has lectured nationally and internationally on his areas of expertise.

Selected Publications

• Duff K, Beglinger LJ, Theriault D, Allison J, Paulsen JS. Cognitive deficits in Huntington's disease on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2009 May 29:1-9. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 19484645.
• Duff K, O'Bryant SE, Westervelt HJ, et al. On becoming a peer reviewer for a neuropsychology journal. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2009 May;24(3):201-7. Epub 2009 Jul 29. PMID: 19640873.
• Paulsen JS, Duff K. Extending MCI beyond Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2009 Mar 31;72(13):1116-7. Review. PMID: 19332688.
• Duff K, Beglinger LJ, Van Der Heiden S, Moser DJ, Arndt S, Schultz SK, Paulsen JS. Short-term practice effects in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: implications for diagnosis and treatment. Int Psychogeriatr. 2008 Oct;20(5):986-99. Epub 2008 Apr 11. PMID: 18405398.
• Duff K, Humphreys Clark JD, O'Bryant SE, Mold JW, Schiffer RB, Sutker PB. Utility of the RBANS in detecting cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's disease: sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive powers. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2008 Sep;23(5):603-12. Epub 2008 Jul 17. PMID: 18639437; PMCID: PMC2570647
• Paulsen JS, Langbehn DR, Stout JC, Aylward E, Ross CA, Nance M, Guttman M, Johnson S, MacDonald M, Beglinger LJ, Duff K, Kayson E, Biglan K, Shoulson I, Oakes D, Hayden M; Predict-HD Investigators and Coordinators of the Huntington Study Group. Detection of Huntington's disease decades before diagnosis: the Predict-HD study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2008 Aug;79(8):874-80. Epub 2007 Dec 20. PMID: 18096682; PMCID: PMC2569211.
• Duff K, Paulsen JS, Beglinger LJ, Langbehn DR, Stout JC; Predict-HD Investigators of the Huntington Study Group. Psychiatric symptoms in Huntington's disease before diagnosis: the predict-HD study. Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Dec 15;62(12):1341-6. Epub 2007 May 3. PMID: 17481592.
• Duff K, Beglinger LJ, Schultz SK, Moser DJ, McCaffrey RJ, Haase RF, Westervelt HJ, Langbehn DR, Paulsen JS; Huntington's Study Group. Practice effects in the prediction of long-term cognitive outcome in three patient samples: a novel prognostic index. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2007 Jan;22(1):15-24. Epub 2006 Dec 4. PMID: 17142007; PMCID: PMC1847360.

View a more complete listing of Dr. Duff's publications here.

This Page Last Updated: Nov 20, 2009