New Brain Beat podcast features Dr. Tresa Roebuck Spencer

The Brain Beat podcast, which is published by the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) Foundation, has shared its latest episode: A gut-wrenching interview with neuropsychologist and former NAN President Dr. Tresa Roebuck Spencer.

As BrainWise wrote in a Q&A feature article earlier this year, Dr. Roebuck Spencer has a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a fast-growing and aggressive cancerous brain tumor.

Since her diagnosis in October 2020, Dr. Roebuck Spencer has managed the roller coaster of treatment (including four brain surgeries, three clinical trials, two rounds of radiation and chemotherapy), as well as the ups and downs that have come with transitioning from expert to patient.

Earlier this fall, she did some public service announcements for the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS).

(As an aside, the NBTS provided statistics and data that informed this blog post, which ran as a companion piece to the BrainWise Q&A.)

In the podcast, Episode 15, Dr. Roebuck Spencer talks more about her new life as a patient, and about some of the challenges she is facing today. She also looks back on her journey—sometimes even with humor.

Dr. Roebuck Spencer has had an incredibly accomplished career in neuropsychology. The Houston-based doctor is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist who has worked in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Washington, D.C. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in the areas of traumatic brain injury, rehabilitation, and computerized neuropsychological testing.

All episodes of Brain Beat can be accessed here.