Tatjana Novakovic-Agopian

Tatjana Novakovic-Agopian, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), affiliated with the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences within the School of Medicine. She specializes in the psychological assessment and rehabilitation of patients recovering from brain injuries caused by trauma, stroke, toxic exposure, or various neurological conditions, with particular focus on executive control functions.

Her educational background includes a doctorate from Alliant International University's California School of Professional Psychology, followed by a residency and fellowship in neuropsychology at UCSF. She has established herself as a leader in neurorehabilitation through her extensive clinical work and research.

Novakovic-Agopian's research primarily focuses on restoring executive function after brain injury and assessing cognitive function using advanced imaging technologies. She has developed the Goal-Oriented Attentional Self-Regulation (GOALS) training approach, which targets executive function deficits in individuals with traumatic brain injury, particularly veterans with comorbid PTSD and mild TBI. Her work bridges theoretical understanding with practical clinical applications, emphasizing ecologically valid assessment and treatment approaches.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent research output spanning from 1999 to the present, with significant recent contributions in 2023-2025. The research trends show an increasing focus on telehealth delivery of cognitive rehabilitation, neuroimaging correlates of treatment response, and long-term outcomes of executive function training, particularly for veteran populations.

As Principal Investigator on the NIH-funded project 'Rehabilitation of Executive Functioning in Veterans with PTSD and Mild TBI' (I01RX001111, 2013-2018), she has secured substantial research support for her work with veteran populations.

Novakovic-Agopian co-directs neurorehabilitation programs across multiple institutions including UCSF, the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Northern California Veterans Affairs Health Care System (Martinez Outpatient Clinic), and University of California, Berkeley. She has served as chair of the California Pacific Regional Rehabilitation Center's brain injury research committee and was formerly president of the Northern California Neuropsychology Forum, demonstrating her leadership in the field.