Since he joined the VA Puget Sound GRECC in 1999, Dr. Watson’s research interests have focused on the relationships among insulin, insulin resistance, cognitive functions, and memory in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy older adults. In consultation with his mentor and colleague, Dr. Suzanne Craft, his studies have contributed to the amassing evidence demonstrating that metabolic abnormalities likely play a role in the cognitive and pathophysiologic changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and furthermore, that treating insulin resistance may be a novel therapeutic strategy for memory loss in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease. His work also examines the role of other neuromodulators, such as somatostatin and norepinephrine, in cognitive functions. He is the recipient of a Career Research Award from the National Institute on Aging to investigate the unique and interactive effects of insulin and norepinephrine on working memory in healthy older adults and adults with Alzheimer’s disease. (Working memory is the capacity to perform mental operations on information held in conscious awareness.) His research interests are complemented by his clinical interests in the neuropsychology of healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. He currently participates in the Memory Wellness Program, a research-based memory disorders clinic at the VA Puget Sound, and he supervises interns and postdoctoral fellows in Clinical Psychology/Neuropsychology.

Dr. Watson completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology) at the University of Mississippi, his internship in Clinical Psychology/Neuropsychology at the University of Florida, and a three-year NIH postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Suzanne Craft’s neuroendocrinolgy of aging lab at the VAPSHCS and the University of Washington. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the University of Washington School of Medicine and a Research Clinical Neuropsychologist in the VAPSHCS GRECC.

Studies/MWP page
American Lake Clinical Psychology Internship