Reuben Robbins is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and a Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. His research and clinical expertise focus on the neurocognitive, mental health, and psychosocial aspects of HIV disease, as well as on HIV affected populations across the lifespan, both domestically and in both low- and middle-income countries. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Robbins has contributed to and completed numerous research projects examining neurocognitive functioning, mental health, sex and drug risk behaviors, and adherence to HIV medical treatment in HIV-infected, -affected and at-risk adolescents and adults, as well as the social determinant effects on these outcomes.
Dr. Robbins is at the forefront of developing and testing technology-based clinical tools and interventions for low-resource and international settings. In an effort to improve the accessibility and validity of neurocognitive testing in these regions, Dr. Robbins has created an easy-to-use, highly automated tablet application to assess neuropsychological functioning and screen for neurocognitive impairment (NeuroScreen). NeuroScreen is being evaluated to assess neurocognition and detect neurocognitive problems among HIV-affected populations, including perinatally HIV-infected adolescents in South Africa, Uganda, and Thailand, as well as HIV-infected adults in the US and South Africa.