Joshua Claunch, MD, neuropsychiatrist, specializing in geriatric and dementia care

Joshua Claunch, MD, is working with patients in the cognitive and behavioral neurology clinic to identify co-mobilities through the assessment of patient’s patterns of cognitive dysfunction with Taylor Young, MD, and Anila Media, MD. Their practice utilizes an interdisciplinary care approach to develop holistic treatment approaches and lifestyle recommendations to support the patient’s journey and quality of life.  

Dr. Claunch shares, “The clinic environment works well, because all the providers are in one place, providing valuable discussions with the physicians developing specialized long-term care plans with the patients and their families.” 

Dr. Claunch is interested in pursuing research goals in areas where “seeds of information need watering through research.” These areas provide opportunities to modulate neuroimmunology risks for patients with long-covid, or cognitive dysfunction. Dr. Claunch was attracted to the neuropsychiatry program because of the dual focuses between neurology and psychiatry stating, “There is so much untapped potential with care growth with guided holistic treatments.”

Dr. Claunch attended medical school at Florida State University before participating in the UMass Chan NeuroPsych Residency Program between 2014 and 2020. He was attracted to the dual-focused neuropsychiatry program at UMass Chan due to the reputations of Dr. Sheldon Benjamin, for his ongoing contributions to neuropsychiatry, Dr. Robert H. Brown, Jr., MD, for his contributions to neurological research, and Dr. John Kabat-Zinn, PhD, who founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at UMass stating, stating, “There is so much untapped potential with care growth with guided holistic treatments.”  Dr. Claunch joined our team as a physician in 2024.