Lynette Joy Tippett is a New Zealand professor of psychology at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, specialising in neurodegenerative diseases.

Academic career

Tippett has a Master's degree in psychology, a Diploma in Clinical Psychology and a doctorate, all from the University of Auckland. Tippett completed her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

titled ''Producing mental pictures: a study of visual-image generation processes in brain-lesioned patients'' in 1991. Tippett then undertook postdoctoral training at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and the Department of Psychology at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. Returning to New Zealand, she joined the faculty of the University of Auckland. She was promoted to full professor. Tippett has taught neuropsychology for more than 30 years, and supervised more than 80 graduate students. Tippett's research focuses on the psychosocial, emotional and cognitive effects of the brain changes that take place in

neurodegenerative diseases A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...

, such as

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

frontotemporal dementia Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), or frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present as ...

and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, and also due to

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...

. Tippett is associate director of the Centre for Brain Research, national director of the Dementia Prevention Research Clinics, and co-director of the Auckland Dementia Prevention Research Clinic. She is a member of the Alzheimer's New Zealand Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board.

Awards and honours

In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, Tippett was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to neuropsychology and people with dementia.

Selected works

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tippett, Lynette New Zealand academics New Zealand women academics Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit University of Auckland alumni New Zealand psychologists Neuropsychologists Academic staff of the University of Auckland