Amanda Sacks-Zimmerman, Ph.D., ABPP

Neuropsychology

Locations and Appointments

Insurances Accepted

Please contact the doctor's office to verify that your insurance is accepted.

*Indicates this doctor is no longer accepting new patients with this insurance plan.

  • HMO
  • Medicare
  • PPO
  • EPO/POS
  • CHP
  • Blue Access
  • EPO
  • HMO
  • Mediblue (Senior)
  • PPO
  • HMO
Personal Statement

As a result of any neurological condition or brain injury (including the trauma of brain surgery), an individual may experience overwhelming and disorienting emotional and cognitive changes. Adapting to these changes requires someone to truly see themselves as having the ability to incorporate change, to compensate, and to build on existing cognitive and emotional skills. I have the privilege of being able to provide the treatment that can help with this process. As a neuropsychologist with Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery, I use cognitive remediation and psychotherapy to help patients recover from surgery, chemotherapy, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological conditions. I follow one overarching principle in order to be effective: Everyone has strength, both cognitive and emotional. Such strength might not be completely realized until an individual sustains a setback, so my job is to explore, search, and find this strength collaboratively with the patient. I then adapt treatment to the individual, not only to build cognitive skills but to bring awareness of these strengths to the individual. Ultimately, such collaborative treatment will result in better functioning and a more satisfactory life.

Biographical Info

Amanda L. Sacks-Zimmerman, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist who has had extensive experience in assessing and treating neurological disorders with cognitive remediation as well as researching the cognitive impact of brain injury. She treats a variety of patients who suffer from cognitive and emotional difficulties that may be the result of epilepsy; radiation or chemotherapy; cardiopulmonary bypass procedures; surgery; cerebrovascular disease; stroke; silent infarcts; brain tumor resection; movement disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease; metabolic disorders; infectious processes such as encephalitis or Lyme disease; chemical toxin exposure; traumatic brain injury; and dementia diagnoses including mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, multi-infarct dementia, and frontal temporal dementia.

****************************************************************

Dr. Sacks-Zimmerman sees patients at 520 East 70th St. @ York Ave. (Starr 651) For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit https://neurosurgery.weillcornell.org  or call 212-746-3356

****************************************************************

TRAINING

Dr. Sacks-Zimmerman received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from The George Washington University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Fairleigh Dickinson University. She completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one at University Behavioral Healthcare, UMDNJ, in Piscataway, New Jersey, focusing on geropsychology and one at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, where she was trained in assessing, treating, and researching acquired and traumatic brain injury.  Additionally, she has been a staff psychologist at NYU Langone Medical Center Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine for three years and a neuropsychologist in the Faculty Group Practice in the Department of Psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center and is faculty appointed to the Department of Anesthesiology at the NYU Langone Medical Center. 

RESEARCH

Dr. Sacks-Zimmerman has been involved in various research projects throughout her training and professional career. Specifically, during her first postdoctoral fellowship at the University Behavioral Healthcare, UMDNJ, she derived research projects examining cognitive correlates of emotion in dementia as well as published book chapters regarding PTSD and family interventions in older adults. During her second postdoctoral fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center,  she  assisted in deriving manualized Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for individuals post-TBI for the purpose of researching the efficacy of this treatment, participated in systematic reviews of literature on evidenced based practices of treatment post TBI, developed research projects, published findings, and presented at conferences on TBI and aging. During her time as a faculty appointed member to the Department of Anesthesiology at NYULMC, Dr. Sacks-Zimmerman analyzed and presented data on post-operative cognitive dysfunction as well as derived research studies on cognitive issues post-operatively in cardiac patients and cognitive issues related to compliance in the wound care population. She is currently in the process of developing research projects to examine the efficacy of cognitive remediation programs on post-operative cognitive difficulties in brain tumor patients within the Department of Neurological Surgery Weill Cornell Medical College.

5-STAR REVIEW from Vitals.com"Really focused and always has new ideas for situation or problem solving. Also she is beautiful and a warm giving person. I recommend completely!"

Board Certifications
American Board of Professional Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology)
Clinical Expertise
Cognitive Remediation For Movement Disorders
Cognitive Remediation After Radiation
Cognitive Remediation After Chemotherapy
Cognitive Remediation For Chronic Cardiovascular Disorders
Cognitive Remediation After Cardiovascular Event
Cognitive Remediation After Brain Tumor Resection
Cognitive Remediation After Surgery
Cognitive Remediation After Brain Surgery
Cognitive Remediation After Traumatic Brain Injury
Cognitive Remediation After Stroke
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive and Neurobehavioral Dysfunction
Training In Cognitive Skills
Cognitive Deficit As Late Effect of Traumatic Brain Injury
Provide Cognitive Emotional Support
MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment)
Mild Cognitive Impairment With Memory Loss
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Head Trauma
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Cognitive and Behavioral Changes
Cognitive Psychotherapy
Cognitive Deficit Due to Parkinson's Disease
Cognitive Impairment, Mild, So Stated
Traumatic Brain Injury
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Lacunar Stroke
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Intracerebral Hemorrhage
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Head Injury
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Embolic Stroke
Cognitive Deficit Due to Old Cerebral Infarction
Cognitive Deficit Due to Multiple Subcortical Infarcts
Cognitive Deficit As Late Effect of Cerebral Aneurysm
Cognitive Complaints
Cognitive Changes
Cognitive Change
Mild Cognitive Disorder
Cognitive Disorder
Cognitive Deficits, Late Effect of Cerebrovascular Disease
Cognitive Decline
Stroke Rehabilitation
Stroke Behavorial Changes
Dementia Following Traumatic Brain Injury
Dementia Due to Multiple Sclerosis
Dementia Due to Head Trauma
Dementia Due to Medical Condition With Behavioral Disturbance
Dementia With Parkinsonism
Dementia Due to Head Trauma With Behavioral Disturbance
Concussion Syndrome
Languages
English
Education 
  • Ph.D.
    Fairleigh Dickinson University
    2006
  • B.A.
    George Washington University
    1998
Appointments 
  • Psychologist
    NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Associate Professor of Neuropsychology in Clinical Neurological Surgery
    Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University

Relationships and collaborations with for-profit and not-for profit organizations are of vital importance to our faculty because these exchanges of scientific information foster innovation. As experts in their fields, WCM physicians and scientists are sought after by many organizations to consult and educate. WCM and its faculty make this information available to the public, thus creating a transparent environment.

No External Relationships Reported