Home

Nicole Davis '06

Recently our own Dr. Nicole Davis, '06, was appointed Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Reading Clinic, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The clinic serves students in grades K – 8, who are behind in reading or have learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, or intellectual disabilities. Nikki also serves as Research Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and Associate Director of the Education and Brain Sciences Lab. “Nikki has a tremendous passion for children with reading difficulties and their families stemming from her experiences with members of her family,” said Laurie Cutting, Ph.D. (Patricia & Rodes Hart Associate Professor of Special Education and Associate Professor of Psychology, Radiology, and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt). “This passion, combined with clinical and educational background, provides her with the outstanding knowledge necessary to ensure that the Clinic will continue to grow in capabilities and services to our community. Nikki comes to us with a wealth of knowledge about child development and Vanderbilt.” 

Nikki obtained dual PhDs in SLHS and Neuroscience from CU–Boulder in 2006. Her graduate research focused on the clinical evaluation of phonological processing in school-age children. Upon graduation, she entered a two-year long postdoctoral fellowship in Biobehavioral Intervention Training at Vanderbilt, focusing on the structural and functional correlates of mathematical and reading disabilities in school age children and the response of these neural correlates to intervention. Upon completion of this fellowship, she pursued an additional postdoctoral year at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science to hone her knowledge of advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques. During this year, she completed her own MRI study investigating the neurobiological correlates of children’s response to reading instruction. She has worked as a doctoral and post doctoral fellow and research assistant on many projects at CU and Vanderbilt. While at CU Nikki was the Pauline Price Doctoral fellow, and worked in the CLC. Nikki commented,  "I worked closely with Amy Thrasher, Sheila Goetz, Janine Randol, and Barb Roscoe. It was a great team." Other University of Colorado supervisors included Drs. Lynn Snyder and Barbara Wise.
 
Among her many projects, Nikki works as a Co-Investigator on two NIH / NICHD grants, one focusing on Cognitive and Neural Processes in Reading Comprehension in children who have specific deficits in reading comprehension and another on "Predicting Late Emerging Reading Disability". She is co-author on recent publications that include Influences of Neural Pathway Integrity in Children’s Response to Reading Instruction in Brain Connectivity Analysis Special Issue of Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience and Functional Correlates of Children’s Responsiveness to Intervention in Developmental Neuropsychology. 
 
Thinking back on her experience at CU, Nikki wrote: "My cohort was very close. I learned important lessons about a range of topics from each of them. From our times studying together to the multiple conversations we had about our future hopes and dreams, the times we shared together are my most fond memories. Whether it be conferences or planned events, I have appreciated the collaboration and support that I have received over the years from my CU classmates and professors. I am grateful for their support". 
 
Nikki related that in addition to her great job, she enjoys "traveling, thai boxing, hiking, and cross country skiing with my husband and close friends."
 
 
Heartfelt congratulations to you Nikki...you make us proud!