Dr Megan Barker

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Queensland Brain Institute

Overview

Dr Megan Barker is a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive neuropsychology, and holds a current appointment at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland. She has significant research experience in the field of neurodegenerative disorders, including dementia, motor neurone disease, and parkinsonian disorders. Her research expertise focuses on detecting novel cognitive and behavioural changes in persons at risk for developing dementia, and detailed phenotyping of cognitive and behavioural changes across neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, she has published work identifying distinctive patterns of cognitive and language functioning in individuals with atypical parkinsonian disorders (e.g. progressive supranuclear palsy), as well as early memory changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. She received three years of postdoctoral training at Columbia University Medical Center, at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain. While there, she spearheaded an international effort to define the earliest symptoms of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. She also has experience conducting research in consortium studies, providing cognitive expertise in teams that combine neuropsychological methods with cutting-edge biomarker, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation techniques.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours), The University of Queensland

Publications

  • Nevler, Naomi, Cho, Sunghye, Cousins, Katheryn A.Q., Ash, Sharon, Olm, Christopher A., Shellikeri, Sanjana, Agmon, Galit, Gonzalez-Recober, Carmen, Xie, Sharon X., Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Mcmillan, Corey T., Irwin, David J., Massimo, Lauren, Dratch, Laynie, Cheran, Gayathri, Huey, Edward D., Cosentino, Stephanie A., Van Deerlin, Vivianna M., Liberman, Mark Y. and Grossman, Murray (2024). Changes in Digital Speech Measures in Asymptomatic Carriers of Pathogenic Variants Associated With Frontotemporal Degeneration. Neurology, 102 (2), e207926. doi: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000207926

  • Barker, Megan S., Ceslis, Amelia, Argall, Rosemary, McCombe, Pamela, Henderson, Robert D. and Robinson, Gail A. (2023). Verbal and nonverbal fluency in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of Neuropsychology. doi: 10.1111/jnp.12354

  • Andersen, Stacy L, Park, Seho, Roth, Nicole, Sebastiani, Paola, Barker, Megan, Zheng, Zhiwei, Auerbach, Sanford Auerbach, Cosentino, Stephanie, Au, Rhoda and Libon, David J (2023). 95 Delving Beyond the Test Score: Linguistic Markers of Cognitive Impairment on Paragraph Recall. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 29 (s1), 766-767. doi: 10.1017/s1355617723009529

View all Publications

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Barker, Megan S., Gibson, Emily C. and Robinson, Gail A. (2018). Acquired brain injury (stroke and TBI) in later life. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Psychology. (pp. 1-30) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.412

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Barker, Megan S., Joyce, Jillian L., Dodge, Shana G., Niehoff, Debra, Denny, Sharon S., Dacks, Penny A., Dickinson, Susan, Cosentino, Stephanie and Wheaton, Dianna K.H. (2022). Chronicling the diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact in frontotemporal degeneration. Alzheimer’s Association International Conference AAIC 2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 16-20 July 2023. Hoboken, NJ United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/alz.063468

Other Outputs