S A R A H.  A.  R A S K I N

The following feature article appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in December, 1998.

EXAMINING THE BRAIN FOR CLUES TO HUMAN BEHAVIOR

"What would you do with this patient?" It’s a question that students in Associate Professor of Psychology Sarah A. Raskin’s "Clinical Psychobiology" class must answer when, as part of their coursework, they are poring over case studies on individuals with brain damage. Students’ initial reaction is often to wish for a battery of tests and treatments, ranging from brain scans to invasive brain surgery. Since such an initial barrage of expensive procedures would be unlikely in the real world, students must refine their responses by considering analytically which method (or which sequence of tests) will best diagnose a particular patient and lead to the best course of treatment.

The critical thinking and analysis which are required in this exercise are the hallmarks of Raskin’s teaching. She expects the application of rigorous scientific methods and provides opportunities for them to be applied within real clinical contexts.

With a bachelor’s degree in behavioral biology from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in neuropsychology from City University of New York, Raskin is an interdisciplinarian at heart who favors a multi-pronged approach to the study of the mind. "I’m interested in the relationship between the brain and human behavior," she says. A member of Trinity’s faculty since 1994, she teaches courses in such areas as psychobiology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology.

Raskin also conducts on-campus research that is rooted in improving the cognitive abilities of people with brain damage. Students in her research lab work directly with people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries; the students administer electroencephalograms (EEG's) and cognitive tests. She says, "I always tell my students: ‘You’re finding out stuff that no one ever learned before. You’re creating knowledge.’" Called enthusiastic and even inspirational by her students, Raskin is, according to Charles A. Dana Research Professor and Professor of Psychology Priscilla Kehoe, both "an excellent teacher and a fabulous researcher."

In Raskin’s classroom, nothing is a given. While she acquaints students with widely accepted theories, she also has them study scientific data for themselves to see whether they would arrive at the same conclusions as did the experts in the field. She often focuses on current debates in the scientific community. Brian T. Harel ’96, who is now a first-year graduate student in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut, was a neuroscience major at Trinity and took Raskin’s "Psychobiology" course. He recalls, "What I liked most about the class was that she did not use a textbook. Instead we read the recent literature on the particular disorder we were studying." These articles, he points out, were written for an audience of researchers in the field, making the material more demanding, and ultimately provided the basis for a richer understanding. "Dr. Raskin is definitely trying to teach students about more than just the limbic system or neuronal connections," says psychology major Suzanne M. Fallon ’00. "She leaves a lot of questions open-ended and expects students to find the answers for themselves."

Hands-on learning

If students must exercise their analytic minds in class, they must use their eyes, ears, and personal skills outside of the classroom. With a service-learning component for each of her courses, Raskin dispatches her students to Hartford Hospital, the Institute of Living, and other local medical facilities, where many act as companions to patients or assist with therapy. Raskin points out that simply having a conversation with someone who exhibits the language difficulties students have read about gives the students a much better understanding. She says, "They learn a lot about the class material when they actually see it in a person with brain damage."

Raskin, who holds clinical staff appointments in two area hospitals, is well-known in the Greater Hartford medical community, and uses these connections to enhance her students’ learning experiences. Scott L. Raymond ’00 describes a visit to a local neuropathologist’s lab as a highlight of the course in psychobiology. Students in the class not only watched a brain autopsy up close, he notes, but they were also "engaged" by the physician who briefed them on the case history and expected them to answer tough questions.

To further such off-campus opportunities, Raskin and Professor Kehoe have developed a new academic internship program that this spring will enroll 10 students as Health Fellows. In addition to doing seminar work on campus, the students will work 30 hours each week in the health-care settings of Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, and the Institute of Living under the supervision of a professional and devise their own independent research projects. The program will give students who plan on pursuing a career in healthcare an invaluable real-world experience.

Raskin says she spends much time talking to her students about dealing with human subjects, especially since many undergraduates have had little exposure to disease and disability. In the past, she has had students in her "Psychology of Aging" course walk around campus with three pairs of gloves on their hands, grease on their glasses, and stones in their shoes. She wants them to understand the experiences of the geriatric patients they would encounter in nursing homes so that they will interact with these older citizens with empathy.

Raskin herself is something of a role model for compassion and service. A regular support-group facilitator, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut. On behalf of that organization, she coordinated a conference at Trinity last spring for brain injury survivors, their families, and health-care professionals. She’s developing plans for another one this June.

Says Priscilla Kehoe of her colleague, "She does a million and one things, and she does them well."

-Leslie Virostek