Dennis McNeilly, Psy.D., a clinical geropsychologist and associate professor of psychiatry in UNMC’s Department of Psychiatry, has been elected to a one-year term as president for the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Dr. McNeilly was elected at the NCPG’s 20th Annual Conference on Problem Gambling held in St. Paul, Minn., last month. He also serves as the director of medical student education in psychiatry at UNMC.
“NCPG’s future is intricately tied to our ability to serve as the access point for educational, assessment, treatment, advocacy and research information about problem gambling to federal health agencies, private foundations and the national media. NCPG has tremendous resources among its affiliate and individual membership, and problem gamblers are counting on us to use those resources on their behalf,” Dr. McNeilly said.
Since 2000, Dr. McNeilly has served NCPG in several capacities, as executive vice president last year, member of the ethics committee the past two years, and as chairman of the research committee for the past three years, a position he will continue to hold.
Dr. McNeilly first presented his research on gambling problems in older adults to the NCPG in 1998. Recently, UNMC was one of 25 sites nationwide participating in a 15-week, Phase III clinical trial to determine whether a particular medication can help people who have otherwise uncontrollable cravings to gamble. The medication showed positive results in preliminary studies. A second Phase III trial to study how the drug interacts with other medications is anticipated, he said.
As president of NCPG, Dr. McNeilly will work towards expanding the ongoing awareness campaign of resources gamblers can turn to, such as the organization’s National Helpline Network (800-522-4700) and its Web site, www.ncpgambling.org.
“The organization is growing through strategic planning. We’re always changing and adapting, as the face of gambling continually changes the ways in which an individual can access and potentially develop a gambling problem. For example, we’re looking for ways to respond to problems caused by gambling on the Internet,” he said.
A native of Fort Dodge, Iowa, Dr. McNeilly has worked as a psychologist for UNMC since 1995. A 1975 graduate of Creighton University, he earned master’s degrees in theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., and the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., as well as a master’s degree in psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. He was ordained a priest in 1985 at St. John’s Church, in Omaha. He graduated with a doctorate in psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago in 1994 and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in geropsychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. McNeilly received his clinical training at the Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center Department of Psychiatry, the Northwestern University Psychiatric Institute, and the West Los Angeles Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Brentwood, Calif.
His clinical practice includes the psychotherapeutic treatment of depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, and the assessment of Alzheimer’s and other dementias in older adults. His research interests include problem gambling in older adults and victimization of older adults. He is a nationally recognized speaker and researcher on problem gambling among older adults.
Dr. McNeilly has served on the Ethics Committee of the Nebraska Psychological Association and the Midlands Chapter Alzheimer’s Association Advisory Council. A member of the Creighton University Jesuit Community, Dr. McNeilly also is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Nebraska Psychological Association, the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry.