Dr. Venus

Dr. Venus is a board-certified neuropsychologist and co-owner of Brains & Planes Neuropsychological and Aviation Services. She is licensed as a psychologist in Oklahoma and Massachusetts and provides a variety of neuropsychological services to adult and geriatric populations (ages 18 to 100+).

Dr. Venus earned her Bachelor's degree in psychology, with a minor in biological sciences (neurobiology and behavior), from Cornell University. She worked as a research assistant in several Cornell laboratories, including behavioral neuroscience and social psychology. Throughout college, she was employed as a research assistant at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA), where she conducted studies on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcoholism.

Her interest in neuropsychology was further ignited by her work at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), where she did multi-disciplinary research on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in service members.

She earned her doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis, working with patients across the developmental lifespan (children, adults, older adults). Her research and clinical interests in graduate school included the investigation of neuropsychological impairments following damage to the brain. Among her many accomplishments, she was awarded the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40) Dissertation Award for her research on the relationships between serum biomarkers and three-month outcomes following pediatric TBI.

Following her graduate studies, Dr. Venus completed her pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology at The VA Boston Healthcare System and her post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at The Harvard Partners Consortium (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital). She conducted neurocognitive evaluations of children and adults with a wide variety of medical, neurological, and psychiatric disorders.

After her post-doctoral fellowship, she developed and maintained a neuropsychology clinic within a mental health practice in the North Shore of Massachusetts. She moved to Oklahoma City, where her husband is stationed, and continues to do clinical neuropsychological evaluations. She is board certified in neuropsychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology and licensed in both Oklahoma and Massachusetts. She has co-authored numerous professional journal articles and book reviews.

Dr. Venus tailors each evaluation to her patient's or clients’ individual needs and strives to help patients, family members, and referral sources understand their cognitive limitations and ways to improve their quality of life. Knowing that neuropsychological evaluations can be anxiety-provoking, she prefers to create a comfortable environment while upholding a professional standard.

In her free time, Dr. Venus enjoys traveling, exercising, reading, gardening, and cooking. She is an avid animal lover and has two cats, one of whom firmly believes that he is a dog.