Physician Biography

Frederick William Unverzagt, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
IU School of Medicine
1111 W. 10th Street
PB 218A
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: (317) 274-1250
Clinical Service: Dr. Unverzagt is the Director of the Neuropsychology Clinic in Psychiatry, an outpatient clinic receiving referrals from the medical center and outlying community. He also conducts forensic neuropsychological assessments relating to closed head injury, occupational exposures, and disability evaluations. The Neuropsychology service provides additional outpatient consultations for Geriatric Medicine in their primary care clinic within Wishard Health Service and inpatient consultations for psychiatry, neurology, and med/surg patients in Wishard Hospital and University Hospital. Research: Dr. Unverzagt has research interests in clinical assessment of memory loss and dementia. He is principal investigator (PI) of an National Institute of Aging-funded observational study of the risk factors for progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in a primary care cohort. He is also the site-PI for the ACTIVE study (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent Vital Elderly), a multi-center, randomized-controlled trial of the effectiveness of cognitive interventions in helping older adults forestall decline in activities of daily living. Dr. Unverzagt is co-investigator in large cross-national, community-based studies of the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for cognitive decline, MCI, and Alzheimer disease in the US, Nigeria, Kenya, Jamaica, and China. He has adapted cognitive and clinical assessment techniques for use in these cross-national studies and developed training programs for their use. He is also co-investigator for the NIA-funded Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center, one of 29 such research centers in the US. In that capacity, he has been involved in the longitudinal assessment of large families affected with genetically-determined neurodegenerations including: early onset Alzheimer disease, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease (an inherited prion diesase), and multi-system tauopathy. Dr. Unverzagt also has interest in studying cognitive dysfunction in breast cancer patients. He has assembled and validated a sensitive battery of tests and adapted these tests for telephone-based administration in a large American Cancer Society study of quality of life in breast cancer survivors.
Clinical Team Membership
Clinical Interests
Neuropsychological evaluation and differential diagnosis of memory loss and cognitive impairment in adults with a variety of illness including cancer patients
Education
Ph.D. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 1991
Fellowship Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1988-1991
M.A. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois 1987