Sherral A. Devine, PhD

Research Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Devine earned her BA in psychology at DePauw University, and then her MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She completed her clinical internship at the Boston VA Medical Center/Tufts University Consortium and then completed a three-year postdoctoral program in clinical neuropsychology, providing services to veterans and civilians with a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Devine has worked in a research setting since completing her postdoctoral work, and she has also worked intermittently in clinical settings, evaluating individuals with a variety of cognitive disorders. These clients have been as young as 12, but Dr. Devine’s primary interest is in a geriatric population.

In 1999, Dr. Devine started working as a clinical neuropsychologist at the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), where research on cognitive functioning was greatly expanding. Through the years, she has collaborated with Dr. Rhoda Au in applying the Boston Process Approach (BPA) to research using neuropsychological tests. BPA goes beyond the typically used quantitative scores, adding the wealth of information available in qualitative aspects of an individual’s performance on cognitive tests. Although widely used in clinical settings, research using BPA is severely limited, given the challenges of operationalizing qualitative aspects of an individual’s behavior while taking cognitive tests. Dr. Devine has especially enjoyed this challenge, as well as providing training and supervision to testers to ensure reliable and consistent coding of behavior. This has been important because of the large number of testers who have been involved with FHS over the years. In addition to BPA generally, Dr. Devine been especially interested in examining the extensive information that can be gleaned from the Clock Drawing Test, a quick and simple task that involves asking an individual to draw a clock and set the hands to a specified time, and to copy a pre-drawn clock. Dr. Devine is involved with the research at FHS into identification of cognitive biomarkers, especially those caught digitally (i.e., with audio recorders and digital pens), that may reveal risk in the very early (i.e., pre- pre-clinical) stages of dementia.

Publications

  • Published 6/8/2026

    Dacey R, Durape S, Wang M, Hwang PH, Gurnani AS, Ang TFA, Devine SA, Choi SE, Lee M, Scollard P, Mukherjee S, Trittschuh E, Sherva R, Dumitrescu L, Hohman TJ, Cuccaro ML, Saykin AJ, Crane PK, Li Y, Levy D, Ma J, Liu C, Lunetta KL, Au R, Farrer LA, Mez J. Epigenetic Age and Resilience in the Framingham Heart Study. Neurol Open Access. 2026 Jun; 2(2). PMID: 42828354.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/1/2026

    Muller E, Guan C, Gifford KA, Sunderaraman P, Devine S, Liu Y, Hwang PH, Gurnani AS. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment at the Framingham Heart Study: A Re-Examination of the Norms. Brain Behav. 2026 May; 16(5):e71487. PMID: 42112960.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/14/2026

    Frank B, Gurnani A, Hurley L, Guan C, Andersen SL, Devine SA, O'Connor MK, Budson A, Liu C, Lin H, Auerbach S, Liu Y, Libon DJ, Price CC, Farrer L, Mez J, Ang A, Au R. Psychometric modeling of Boston process approach data for dementia prediction in the Framingham Heart Study. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2026 Mar; 32(3):243-254. PMID: 41975557.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/2/2026

    Burton R, Durape S, Price E, Chien-Young K, Joshi P, Yhang E, Liu Y, Devine S, Gurnani AS, Ang TFA, Katz DI, Alosco ML, Tripodis Y, Au R, Dams-O'Connor K, Mez J. Traumatic Brain Injury and All-Cause and Dementia-Related Mortality in the Framingham Heart Study. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 Jan 02; 9(1):e2555138. PMID: 41615690.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/1/2025

    Kang M, Ang TFA, Devine SA, Sherva R, Mukherjee S, Trittschuh EH, Scollard P, Lee M, Choi SE, Klinedinst B, Nakano C, Dumitrescu LC, Hohman TJ, Cuccaro ML, Saykin AJ, Kukull WA, Bennett DA, Wang LS, Mayeux RP, Haines JL, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Crane PK, Au R, Lunetta KL, Mez J, Farrer LA. Genome-wide pleiotropy analysis of longitudinal blood pressure and harmonized cognitive performance measures. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Sep; 21(9):e70681. PMID: 40951946.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 47 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Research Assistant Professor, Neurology
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Center Faculty Member, Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • Bowling Green State University, PhD
  • Bowling Green State University, MA
  • DePauw University, BA

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