Mariana Cherner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
E-mail: mcherner@ucsd.edu 
PHONE #: (619) 543-5048
FAX #: (619) 543-1235

Biography
MARIANA CHERNER, Ph.D, graduated with a BA in Psychology from Cornell University and obtained her Ph.D. from the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology in 1997, specializing in neuropsychology and behavioral medicine. She completed a clinical psychology internship at the University of Washington, where she also received postdoctoral training in neuropsychology. Dr. Cherner is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD as well as a faculty member in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.

Research Focus
Dr. Cherner has an interest in the role of coexisting conditions such as hepatitis C and stimulant drug (methamphetamine, MDMA) abuse in the manifestation of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.  She is located at the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center, where she is an investigator on a number of federally funded grants related to neuroAIDS.  The other focus of her work is the area of cross-cultural neuropsychology, with a special interest in culturally competent assessment of cognitive abilities and everyday functioning in Spanish speakers. She is the principal investigator of a federally funded grant designed to study the cognitive and functional impact of HIV in this population.  She also participates in training and mentorship of predoctoral students and postdoctoral researchers.

Clinical Focus
Dr. Cherner is a licensed clinical psychologist trained in adult neuropsychological assessment, with expertise in cross-cultural neuropsychological evaluation as well as neurobehavioral consequences of infectious disease and substance misuse.

Selected Publications

• Cherner M, Cysique, L, Heaton RK, Marcotte TD, Ellis RJ, Masliah, E, Grant, I, & the HNRC Group. (2007). Neuropathologic confirmation of definitional criteria for HIV associated neurocognitive disorders. Journal of Neurovirology. 13 (1), 23-28.
• Cherner, M, Suarez, P, Lazzaretto, D, Artiola i Fortuny, L, Rivera Mindt, M, Marcotte, T, Grant, I, Heaton, R & the HNRC Group. (2007). Demographically corrected norms for the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised in Monolingual Spanish Speakers from the U.S. – Mexico Border Region. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 22 (3), 343-353.
• Cherner M, Letendre SL, Heaton RK, Durelle J, Marquie-Beck J, Gragg B, Grant I. (2005). Hepatitis C augments cognitive deficits associated with HIV infection and methamphetamine. Neurology, 64, 1343-1347.
• Cherner, M., Ellis, R.J., Lazzaretto, D., Young, C., Mindt, M.R., Atkinson, J.H., Grant, I., Heaton, R.K., and the HNRC Group. (2004). Effects of HIV-1 infection and aging on neurobehavioral functioning: preliminary findings. AIDS, 18 (suppl 1), S27-S34.
• Cherner M, Masliah E, Ellis RJ, Marcotte TD, Moore DJ, Grant I, Heaton RK. (2002). Neurocognitive dysfunction predicts postmortem findings of HIV encephalitis. Neurology, 59(10), 1563-1567.