Clinic Director, Clinical Neuropsychologist
Dr. Jesse Smotherman is a board-eligible clinical neuropsychologist and the director of NSG’s New Orleans (Slidell) clinic. A Louisiana native, he earned his B.S. from Louisiana State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology, with a clinical neuropsychology track, from the University of North Texas. He completed an APA-accredited internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a two-year APPCN postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Ochsner Health’s Department of Neurology in New Orleans, where he trained within the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute and its multidisciplinary memory care clinic. He is licensed in the state of Louisiana, where he was born, raised, and proudly calls home.
Clinical practice. Dr. Smotherman provides comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for adults and older adults, with particular depth in dementia and neurodegenerative disease — including Alzheimer’s, vascular, Lewy body, and frontotemporal presentations — traumatic brain injury, stroke, and epilepsy, including pre- and post-surgical evaluation. His training spans academic medical centers, VA hospitals, inpatient units, and community clinics, including Ochsner Health, the Oklahoma City and Dallas VA systems, OU Medical Center, Baylor’s Memory Center, and the LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry.
Forensic and medicolegal work. Dr. Smotherman conducts civil independent medical examinations, Defense Base Act and workers’ compensation evaluations, and criminal evaluations addressing competency and related questions. His forensic practice is anchored in performance validity testing — the science of distinguishing genuine impairment from exaggerated or feigned deficits — which was the subject of his doctoral dissertation and remains his active research focus. His assessment experience includes evaluations in correctional facilities and, as part of a Gulf-region team, assessments of individuals affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Research. Dr. Smotherman’s research on performance validity, dementia, and assessment has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Neurology, Psychiatry and Brain Research and Training and Education in Professional Psychology, and has been presented at the National Academy of Neuropsychology and International Neuropsychological Society annual meetings. His meta-analytic work on familial early-onset Alzheimer’s disease examined how the APP, PSEN-1, and PSEN-2 genes affect cognition before symptoms appear.
The long road here. Dr. Smotherman’s career in neuropsychology began in 2007 — not as a doctor, but as a psychometrist with a Metairie-based neurobehavioral group, where over six years he personally administered roughly a thousand evaluations to patients ages 3 to 95 across Louisiana, in clinics, hospitals, homes, schools, and correctional settings, and helped bring telemedicine evaluations to rural communities. Nearly two decades later, that experience shapes how his clinic runs: he knows exactly what a testing day feels like from the other side of the table.
Why did you choose neuropsychology as a profession?
My path to neuropsychology as a profession has been guided equally by my fascination with the brain and my affinity for people. I have always wanted to study how this amazing, cryptic organ engenders consciousness, houses cherished memories, and imputes meaning to abstract things. Even more intriguing to me is how these processes malfunction in mental illness, and studying neuropsychology has offered crucial insight into how to best treat individuals suffering from such illnesses. I believe that my greatest potential for positively impacting the world lies in this field, and I am grateful for how it affords me the amazing opportunity to help people every day.
Why did you choose to work at Neurocognitive Specialty Group?
I attribute my passion for helping people to my family, whose ability to understand, empathize, and genuinely connect with people has been integral in molding my identity. These same characteristics are found in spades in all of the great people at NSG, which is why I chose to work with them, a decision I have not regretted for a second. I am proud and fortunate to work with every member of this incredible team, who are all equally adept and committed to practicing neuropsychology at the highest level.