Jennifer J. Vasterling, PhD
Professor, Psychiatry
Biography
Dr. Vasterling serves as the Chief of Psychology at VA Boston Healthcare System. She is also a clinical investigator within the Behavioral Sciences Division of the VA National Center for PTSD. Dr. Vasterling obtained her Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1988, subsequently completing pre- and post-doctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at the VA Boston Healthcare System/Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine.
Dr. Vasterling has served on the editorial boards of several journals, and currently serves on the board of Psychological Assessment. Her research has centered on neurocognitive and emotional changes that accompany war-zone deployment and posttraumatic stress responses. She is the lead editor of the sole book on the neuropsychology of PTSD and of a book on mild traumatic brain injury and PTSD. She is additionally an editor of a book addressing the mental health concerns of returning veterans.
Dr. Vasterling is the 2009 recipient of the American Psychological Association Trauma Psychology (Division 56) Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award. Her recent work, funded by the VA Cooperative Studies program and NIMH, involves longitudinal examination of neuropsychological and emotional outcomes of military deployment to Iraq and the mental health outcomes of their family members. She currently serves as President of the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40 of the American Psychological Association).
Other Positions
- VA Boston Healthcare System
Education
- Vanderbilt University, PhD
- Louisiana State University, BS
Publications
- Published on 2/12/2024
Raines AM, Clauss KE, Seidler D, Allan NP, Elhai JD, Vasterling JJ, Constans JI, Maieritsch KP, Franklin CL. A Bifactor Evaluation of Self-Report and Clinician-Administered Measures of PTSD in Veterans. Assessment. 2024 Feb 12; 10731911241229568. PMID: 38347720.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/2/2024
Verfaellie M, Patt V, Lafleche G, Strang C, Vasterling JJ. Future thinking in PTSD: Preliminary evidence for altered event construction. Psychiatry Res. 2024 Mar; 333:115768. PMID: 38325161.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/1/2024
Verfaellie M, Patt V, Lafleche G, Hunsberger R, Vasterling JJ. Correction to: Imagining emotional future events in PTSD: clinical and neurocognitive correlates. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024 Feb; 24(1):184-185. PMID: 38040864.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/12/2023
Verfaellie M, Patt V, Lafleche G, Hunsberger R, Vasterling JJ. Imagining emotional future events in PTSD: clinical and neurocognitive correlates. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2023 Oct; 23(5):1428-1444. PMID: 37700143.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/22/2023
Vasterling JJ, Franz MR, Lee LO, Kaiser AP, Proctor SP, Marx BP, Schnurr PP, Ko J, Concato J, Aslan M. Early predictors of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder symptom trajectories in U.S. Army soldiers deployed to the Iraq war zone. J Trauma Stress. 2023 Oct; 36(5):955-967. PMID: 37608526.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/14/2022
Chiu C, Gnall K, Kaiser AP, Taft CT, Franz MR, Lee LO, Vasterling JJ. Neurocognitive Performance Predicts Future Partner Violence Among U.S. Iraq-and Afghanistan-deployed Army Soldiers and Veterans. Psychol Violence. 2022 May; 12(3):160-169. PMID: 38463935.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/25/2021
Toomey R, Alpern RE, Reda DJ, Baker DG, Vasterling JJ, Blanchard MS, Eisen SA. A cohort study of neuropsychological functioning in spouses of U.S. Gulf War veterans. Life Sci. 2021 Nov 01; 284:119894. PMID: 34450171.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/23/2021
Denckla CA, Lee SY, Kim R, Spies G, Vasterling JJ, Subramanian SV, Seedat S. Patterning of individual variability in neurocognitive health among South African women exposed to childhood maltreatment. Sci Rep. 2021 03 23; 11(1):6669. PMID: 33758246.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/2/2021
Jackson CE, Ciarleglio MM, Aslan M, Marx BP, Ko J, Concato J, Proctor SP, Vasterling JJ. Associations Among Increases in Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Neurocognitive Performance, and Long-Term Functional Outcomes in U.S. Iraq War Veterans. J Trauma Stress. 2021 06; 34(3):628-640. PMID: 33650202.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/17/2020
Franz MR, Kaiser AP, Phillips RJ, Lee LO, Lawrence AE, Taft CT, Vasterling JJ. Associations of warzone veteran mental health with partner mental health and family functioning: Family Foundations Study. Depress Anxiety. 2020 11; 37(11):1068-1078. PMID: 32805764.
Read at: PubMed
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