Specialties & Experience

General Specialties: Neuropsychology and Psychology

Specialty Focus: neuropsychological assessment, traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia, PTSD, malingering, fitness for duty, return to work, return to play, competency, substance abuse, somatoform disorder, conversion disorder, pseudo-seizures, psychogenic movement disorders, independent medical evaluation

Education: Residency / Fellowship, Duke University School of Medicine; Ph.D., Southern Illinois University - Carbondale; M.A., Western Carolina University; B.A., North Carolina State University

Years in Practice: 15

Number of Times Deposed/Testified in Last 4 Yrs: 6

Additional Information

Dr. Acheson is a Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center where he also completed his neuropsychology residency and post-doctoral fellowship training. He is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Translational Neuroscience, and Lead Psychologist in the Duke Center for Psychiatry and Law. In his role as a member of the Duke Center for Psychiatry and Law, Dr. Acheson performs neuropsychological evaluations and record reviews in the service of civil and criminal court proceedings; fitness for duty; workers comp; and issues surrounding competency (e.g., stand trial / medical decision making / financial decision making / independent living). Dr. Acheson also provides expert testimony concerning the behavioral and cognitive effects of drugs of abuse; traumatic brain injury; somatoform and conversion disorders; and malingering. Dr. Acheson's primary clinical specialty is traumatic brain injury and related issues such as return to work/play; recovery of function; and the cognitive, behavioral and emotional sequelae of TBI. He has worked with clients from early adolescence through late adulthood. Dr. Acheson has a dual appointment at the Durham VA Medical Center where he serves as a Research Physiologist. His research at the VA hospital focuses on pre-clinical models of traumatic brain injury, new drug therapies that may be useful in the treatment of TBI, as well as the many variables that mediate severity of injury and subsequent recovery of function. Dr. Acheson's earlier research focused on the neurodevelopmental effects of drugs of abuse (e.g., alcohol and THC) on learning, memory, and behavioral function.