Dr. Antonio E. Puente Lecture Fund

Dr. Puente was born in Cuba and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, and his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia. He was a clinical psychologist at a teaching psychiatric hospital and a professor of neuroanatomy at a medical school before becoming a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). He is also a visiting professor at the Universidad de Granada (Spain) and University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1982, Dr. Puente has maintained a private practice limited to clinical neuropsychology. In 2002, he founded and now co-directs (with a PharmD) a bilingual mental health clinic for the poor and uninsured in the southeastern region of North Carolina (Cape Fear Clinic, Wilmington, NC).

Dr. Puente has authored/edited eight books, 77 book chapters, 107 journal articles (in English, Spanish and Russian). His research focus has largely been on the interface between culture and clinical neuropsychology. He founded and edited Neuropsychology Review, the Journal of Interprofessional Healthcare and a book series in clinical neuropsychology (33 books). He has lectured in over a dozen countries and supervised fellows or visiting scientists from Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain. He has taught over 8,000 undergraduate students, supervised 33 graduate students and 10 post-doctoral fellows.

Dr. Puente is past president of the North Carolina Psychological Association, North Carolina Psychological Foundation, National Academy of Neuropsychology, Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (Div. 40) and Hispanic Neuropsychological Society. He has also served two terms as APA council representative for Div. 40. Dr. Puente is a member of APA Divisions 18, 19, 22, 26, 38 and 47, and a fellow of Divisions 1, 2, 6, 31, 40, 45, 52 and 55. He was also a member of the "kitchen cabinet" in 1999 under APA President Richard Suinn, PhD. Other leadership positions include chair of the Psychology Academy of the National Academies of Practice and several APA boards and committees, including the Board of Convention Affairs, the Committee for Psychological Tests and Assessments and the Policy and Planning Board. Dr. Puente also served on the Joint Committee for Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Between 1993 and 2008, he was APA’s representative to the American Medical Association’s Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) panel and was then elected to the Editorial Panel of the CPT panel (voting member). He was also on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee. 

Dr. has received several awards, including: Fulbright Scholar Award 1983 (Argentina); UNCW’s Distinguished Faculty Scholarship Award 2009; North Carolina Psychological Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award 2008; and APA’s Karl Heiser Award 1996; Presidential Award 2006; State Leadership Award 2009; and Distinguished Professional Contributions to Independent Practice 2011.  

2024 - Funds underwrite the speaker honoraria for Timely Topics February 2024

2023 - Funds underwrite the speaker honoraria for Timely Topics February 2023

2022 - Funds underwrite the speaker honoraria for Fall Conference 2022

2021 - Funds underwrite the speaker honoraria for Fall Conference 2021