Sarah Shizuko Morimoto,
PsyD
Languages Spoken: English
Dr. Morimoto is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders of late life. Her research encompasses the full range of digital cognitive remediation intervention development, from identifying targeted, and clinically relevant cognitive deficits, and the underlying neural circuit dysfunction, to developing computerized paradigms, conducting clinical trials, to CR method development. Her intervention for geriatric depression NeuroFlex garnered national attention when her pilot trial was published in Nature Communications. Dr. Morimoto's work has been featured on National Public Radio; LX NBC News, KSL, LiveScience and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Dr. Morimoto directs a clinical service which addresses a wide range of cognitive and emotional deficits comorbid with psychiatric, neurological, and medical conditions. This service provides precision personalized medicine, and includes holistic and fine-grained evaluation of each patient’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and an individualized, multidisciplinary treatment plan tailored to each patients’ unique profile, follow up testing and relapse prevention.
With her expertise, Dr. Morimoto aims to raise awareness about the importance of brain health at every age, and provide an evidence-based service where patients can learn how to optimize their cognitive and emotional functioning
Clinical Locations
HMHI (UNI) Downtown Behavioral Health Clinic
801-587-1288
Board Certification and Academic Information
| Academic Departments | Population Health Sciences
-
Associate Professor |
| Academic Divisions | Health System Innovation and Research |
Dr. Morimoto is a licensed clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders of late life. Her research encompasses the full range of digital cognitive remediation intervention development, from identifying targeted, and clinically relevant cognitive deficits, and the underlying neural circuit dysfunction, to developing computerized paradigms, conducting clinical trials, to CR method development. Her intervention for geriatric depression NeuroFlex garnered national attention when her pilot trial was published in Nature Communications. Dr. Morimoto's work has been featured on National Public Radio; LX NBC News, KSL, LiveScience and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Dr. Morimoto directs a clinical service which addresses a wide range of cognitive and emotional deficits comorbid with psychiatric, neurological, and medical conditions. This service provides precision personalized medicine, and includes holistic and fine-grained evaluation of each patient’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and an individualized, multidisciplinary treatment plan tailored to each patients’ unique profile, follow up testing and relapse prevention.
With her expertise, Dr. Morimoto aims to raise awareness about the importance of brain health at every age, and provide an evidence-based service where patients can learn how to optimize their cognitive and emotional functioning
Academic Locations
Williams Building
801-587-1288
Research Statement
Dr. Morimoto's research focuses on diagnosis and treatment of late life mood disorders, and disorders of aging. She leads the Neurotherpeautics Lab in collaboration with the Therapeutic Games and Apps lab in the conceptualization, execution and implementation of digital tools for psychiatric disorders. She is currently PI of a multi-site randomized controlled clinical trial of NeuroFlex; Dr. Morimoto's neuroplasticity-based digital app to treat cognitive deficits in treatment resistant older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Board Certification and Academic Information
| Academic Departments | Population Health Sciences
-
Associate Professor |
| Academic Divisions | Health System Innovation and Research |
Research Interests
- Targeted and Evidence-Based Interventions for Cognitive Deficits
- Neuroplasticity-Based Computerized Cognitive Remediation
- Cognitive Deficits in Psychiatric Disorders
- Cognitive decline in normal aging
- Neurobiology of Depression in the Elderly
- Computerized Cognitive Remediation Method Development
Education History
| Research Fellow | Weill Cornell Medical School Neurobiology of geriatric mood disorders Research Fellow, 2012 |
| Postdoctoral Fellowship | New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow, 2008 |
| Fellowship | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Neuropsychology Clinical Fellow, 2007 |
| Doctoral Training | Pacific Graduate School of Psychology/Stanford University School of Medicine Clinical Psychology Psy.D., 2007 |
| Graduate Training | Pacific Graduate School of Psychology/Stanford University School of Medicine Clinical Psychology M.S., 2005 |
| Undergraduate | University of California, Berkeley Psychology B.A., 2001 |
Selected Publications - Journal Articles
Journal Article
- Morimoto SS, Altizer RA, Gunning FM, Hu W, Liu J, Cote SE, Nitis J, Alexopoulos GS (2020). Targeting Cognitive Control Deficits With Neuroplasticity-Based Computerized Cognitive Remediation in Patients With Geriatric Major Depression: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 28(9), 971-980.
- Bessette KL, Karstens AJ, Crane NA, Peters AT, Stange JP, Elverman KH, Morimoto SS, Weisenbach SL, Langenecker SA (2020). A Lifespan Model of Interference Resolution and Inhibitory Control: Risk for Depression and Changes with Illness Progression. Neuropsychol Rev, 30(4), 477-498.
- Victoria LW, Alexopoulos GS, Ilieva I, Stein AT, Hoptman MJ, Chowdhury N, Respino M, Morimoto SS, Kanellopoulos D, Avari JN, Gunning FM (2018). White matter abnormalities predict residual negative self-referential thinking following treatment of late-life depression with escitalopram: A preliminary study. J Affect Disord, 243, 62-69.
- Duff K, Anderson JS, Mallik AK, Suhrie KR, Atkinson TJ, Dalley BCA, Morimoto SS, Hoffman JM (2018). Short-term repeat cognitive testing and its relationship to hippocampal volumes in older adults. J Clin Neurosci, 57, 121-125.
Global Impact
Service
| 05/01/2018 | Program Committee Member | Scientific Advisory Committee | Global |