Brandywine Neuropsychology Associates 

Ivorie Walker-Mekonnen, Psy.D. Licensed Psychologist/Clinical Neuropsychologist

Dr. Walker Mekonnen is a licensed psychologist in the state of Pennsylvania. She competed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology from the Institute of Graduate Clinical Psychology at Widener University. During her graduate training, she was exposed to a wide range of patient populations through practicum placements, including conducting neuropsychological evaluations with children, providing individual therapy and leading group therapy in an inpatient substance abuse program, and providing treatment on a long-term inpatient psychiatric unit. She completed internships at RSM Psychology in Princeton, NJ, and Thomas Jefferson University. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the department of Neurology at the University of Virginia where she specialized in working with older adults in the assessment of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, among others.

After completing her postdoctoral training and prior to returning to Pennsylvania, Dr. Walker Mekonnen worked as a clinical neuropsychologist for Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC. While a generalist, she held specialty dementia and concussion clinics, and was a key member of interdisciplinary presurgical teams for patients with Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

Dr. Walker Mekonnen holds her training close, always remembering that she is a clinical psychologist first. As such, her approach to working with patients is therapeutic in nature, from the first greeting, throughout the evaluation, and when delivering the results and recommendations. She focuses on each person as a whole individual, integrating information about their life experiences and providing tailored, evidence-based recommendations. Dr. Walker Mekonnen believes in the importance of treatment providers working as a team to best help individuals achieve their treatment goals and optimize emotional, cognitive, and physical health. She also believes in the importance of making healthcare and knowledge about neuropsychological evaluations more accessible. As such, she has given multiple community talks regarding cognitive health throughout her career at nursing homes, independent living facilities, churches, and meetings hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

In her free time, Dr. Walker Mekonnen enjoys adventures with her family, playing with her dog, playing volleyball, and baking delicious treats for friends and family.

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Jennifer Gallo, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist /Clinical Neuropsychologist 

Dr. Gallo earned her PhD from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA after completed her pre-doctoral internship training at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s University Behavioral HealthCare Center in Piscataway, NJ. 

Dr. Gallo has specialized training in measuring cognitive, psychological and behavioral symptoms and their impact on patients’ functional status and well-being. She evaluates adults presenting with a range of known or suspected neurological, medical and psychological disorders, with an eye toward informing treatment and management. Her training specialty within neuropsychology is aging and dementia. 

Prior to joining Brandywine Neuropsychology Associates, she worked for three years within the neurology division of Global Neurosciences Institute (GNI) as a clinical neuropsychologist, where she saw outpatients for comprehensive diagnostic assessments and contributed to decisions about candidacy for Deep Brain Stimulation surgery among patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s’ disease by performing pre- and post-surgical evaluations as part of a multidisciplinary Movement Disorders Team. Before joining the neuropsychology services at GNI, she spent two years as a clinical neuropsychologist within the Department of Neurology at Drexel University’s College of Medicine, and nine years as a teaching faculty member within the Department of Psychology at Drexel University’s main campus. In her teaching role she taught undergraduate and graduate courses, directed the undergraduate BS program in Psychology, directed the clinical neuropsychology major area of study within the Clinical Psychology PhD program, and developed the neuropsychological assessment services team at Drexel’s Psychological Services Center where she supervised second- and third-year clinical doctoral students placed on her team for practicum training. She also co-authored the Behavioral and Psychological Assessment of Dementia (BPAD), a clinical rating scale used in the assessment of dementia that has been published by PAR, Inc.