Discovery, Diagnostics and Management:
A new era for Dementia
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AND PROGRAM TIMES
Dr Nicholas Ashton | Welcome and Keynote 1 Monday 4:30pm
Researcher, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Dr. Ashton is an assistant professor of Neurochemistry at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry at the University Gothenburg in the group of Professor’s Henrik Zetterberg and Kaj Blennow. He also holds a senior researcher position at the department of Old Age Psychiatry, King’s College London, and Stavanger University in Norway. He received his PhD in 2017 from King’s College London in the group of Professor Sir Simon Lovestone. Dr. Ashton has more than a decade of experience in biofluid analysis and assay development for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, which ranges from discovery mass spectrometry methods to ultra-sensitive immunoassays. Recently this has produced ultra-sensitive single molecular array (Simoa) assays for phosphorylated tau in blood, which are now widely used in research settings, therapeutics trials and being validated for clinical use. His research now focuses on further assessing these tests in patient populations, preparing for widespread implementation. Further, he also now assessing different tau and synaptic forms in biofluids and how they may contribute to the knowledge of disease pathogenesis and ultimately clinical use.
He has published >200 original research articles in field of fluid biomarkers and in 2021, Dr. Ashton was awarded the Queen of Sweden Prize to a Young Alzheimer Researcher for his contribution dementia research. In addition, this year, he received the Viola Bergqvist award for mentorship.
Professor Christian Behl | Keynote 8 Wednesday 3:00pm
Director of the Institute of Pathobiochemistry, University Medical Center (UMC), Mainz, GERMANY
Christian Behl is Director of the Institute of Pathobiochemistry at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, where he is also Full Professor and Chair. He received his PhD in Neurobiology from Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Germany, worked as postdoctoral fellow on Alzheimer's Disease at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies La Jolla, California, and headed an Independent Research Group of the Max Planck Society at the MPI for Psychiatry in Munich. In Mainz, Behl translated his long-standing interest in neurodegenerative diseases into a research focus on autophagy, proteostasis, and oxidative stress in the context of age-related neurodegeneration. One of his continuing research goals is to uncover molecular maintenance and resilience processes that allow neurons to resist challenges that occur during neurodegeneration. More recently, he has been intensively reviewing Alzheimer's Disease research with the aim to develop a new understanding of its pathogenesis. Behl is member of a number of scientific boards, including the German Alzheimer Foundation.
Professor Maria Eriksdotter | Keynote 5 Wednesday 9:00am
Founder and the director of the Swedish national quality registry on cognitive/dementia disorders (SveDem), SWEDEN
Maria Eriksdotter, MD, PhD, is professor in geriatric medicine at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant at Karolinska university hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Since 2019 Dean of Karolinska Institutet Campus South and previously chair of the KI department of Neurobiology, care sciences and society.
Professor Eriksdotter is the founder and the director of the Swedish national quality registry on cognitive/dementia disorders (SveDem, www.svedem.se), one of the largest databases in the world on different dementia disorders, in which national quality indicators of diagnostics, treatment and dementia care can be followed.
Her research focus on treatment of Alzheimer´s disease and on comorbidities and dementia and has published >250 research articles. Prof Eriksdotter pioneered the first clinical trial in the world on implantation of encapsulated cells releasing nerve growth factor (NGF) directly to the forebrain in patients with Alzheimer´s disease. Using SveDem data, she has contributed to increased knowledge on the relationship between dementia and comorbidities with impact on everyday dementia care.
Professor Sharon Naismith | Keynote 7 Wednesday 2:10pm
MAPS, CCN NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Psychology, Brain and Mind Centre & Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney; Lead, Australian Dementia Network Memory Clinics Initiative.
Professor Sharon Naismith is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Dementia Leadership Fellow and holds the Leonard P Ullman Chair in Psychology at the University of Sydney. Her work focuses on the mechanisms by which modifiable risk factors for dementia including depression, sleep disturbance, and cardiovascular disease impact on the brain and how best to treat them. She has authored more than 350 papers and has made new discoveries regarding key brain changes that underpin sleep disturbance and depression in older people. She leads the NHMRC ‘Centre of Research Excellence to Optimise Sleep in Brain Ageing and Neurodegeneration (CogSleep)', a new NHMRC ‘SIESTA’ Synergy Grant, focused on sleep and Alzheimer’s disease and the Australian Dementia Network Memory Clinics Initiative.
Professor Henry Brodaty AO |
Keynote 4 Tuesday 4:40pm
Co-Director Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW Sydney, NSW
Henry Brodaty AO, MB BS, MD, DSc, FRACP, FRANZCP, FAHMS is a researcher, clinician, policy advisor and strong advocate for people with dementia and their carers. At UNSW Sydney, he is Scientia Professor and Montefiore Chair of Ageing and Mental Health, and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing. He has published extensively, is a senior psychogeriatrician at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. He serves on multiple committees for the NSW and Australian governments and WHO.
He was previously President of International Psychogeriatric Association, Chairman of Alzheimer’s Disease International, and President of Alzheimer’s Australia NSW and Australia. In 2000 he became an Officer of the Order of Australia and in 2016 received the Ryman Prize for the world’s best development, advance or achievement that enhances quality of life for older people.
Associate Professor Michelle Lupton | Keynote 3 Tuesday 9:50am
QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD
Michelle Lupton specialises in Alzheimer’s disease genome-wide genetic association studies, neuroimaging genetics, genetic risk prediction, and Mendelian Randomisation analysis. She is currently an NHMRC Boosting Dementia Leadership Fellow based at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane and was previously at Kings College London in the UK. Through her work with several Alzheimer’s disease cohort studies, she has contributed to world-class genetics consortia including the leading GWAS Meta-analyses and the Alzheimer’s Exome Sequencing Group which were the first to identify the TREM2 Alzheimer’s risk variant. She co-leads the PISA (Prospective Imaging Study of Aging) which focuses on prodromal and early stage Alzheimer’s disease, and leads the genetics, epidemiology and blood analysis streams. Her core research aims are to improve understanding of the effect of Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk factors, identify early disease and prodromal biomarkers and determine causal relationships between potential modifiable risk factors and Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Peter Nestor | Keynote 6 Wednesday 9:50am & Continuing Education Monday 11:00am
Professor in Neuroscience, Queensland Brain Institute, QLD
Peter Nestor is conjoint professor of cognitive neurology at the University of Queensland and the Mater Hospital, where he established the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Clinic in 2018. He trained in neurology in Melbourne and at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen’s Square, London, in the 1990s and then did a PhD in cognitive neurology at the University of Cambridge. Afterwards he remained at the University of Cambridge/Addenbrooke’s Hospital for several years as a clinician-scientist. From 2012 until returning to Australia in 2017, he was Professor of Cognitive Neurology at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). His research focuses on neuropsychology and brain imaging in neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia.
His research publications have received over 18,000 citations with an H-Index of 69; his book contributions include chapters for the Oxford Text of Medicine; the Oxford Textbook of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia; and Dementia 5th Ed.
Dr Edwin Tan | Keynote 9 Wednesday 3:50pm
Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Dr Edwin Tan is a Senior Lecturer School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney. He is also a registered pharmacist with clinical experience in both Australia and the UK. He was a previous NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow at the Karolinska Institute and Monash University. Dr Tan's research interests are in geriatric pharmacoepidemiology, particularly in improving the safe and effective use of medicines in people living with dementia.
Dr Tan has over 80 publications and has been awarded over $3.1M in competitive research funding. He is a member of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) EMCR Accelerator Group and Chair of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT) Pharmacoepidemiology Special Interest Group. He is an executive editor for the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and has served on grant peer review panels for the NHMRC.
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Dr Heather Snyder | Keynote 2 Tuesday 9:00am
Vice President, Medical & Scientific Relations, at the Alzheimer's Association and study team investigator for the development of the Alzheimer’s Network for Treatment and Diagnostics (ALZ-NET), USA
Heather M. Snyder, Ph.D., is vice president, Medical & Scientific Relations at the Alzheimer’s Association®. Dr. Snyder oversees the Association’s funding mechanisms; as the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer's research, the Association is currently investing $310 million in more than 950 active best-of-field projects in 48 countries, including Australia. She is on the executive team for the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) and also serves on the study team for the Alzheimer’s Network for Treatment and Diagnostics (ALZ-NET), a tool that will collect longitudinal diagnostic and therapeutic clinical data, including measures of cognition, function and safety, from individuals treated with FDA-approved Alzheimer’s therapies in clinical settings nationwide. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and a bachelor's degree in biology and religious studies from the University of Virginia.
CONTINUING EDUCATION SPEAKERS
Professor Michael Breakspear | Continuing Education Moderator Monday 10:30am - 4:00pm
Michael Breakspear is a Psychiatrist and Neuroscientist researching the principles of brain function in health and in mental illness. Professor Breakspear leads the Systems Neuroscience Group – a team of psychiatrists, physicists, psychologists and neuroimaging scientists at the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute, Australia. He uses computational modelling to study the generative processes underlying bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia and in healthy ageing.
Professor Breakspear studied medicine at the University of Sydney, combined with degrees in Arts (philosophy and mathematics) and Science (neuroscience and physics). He is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and runs a weekly clinic at the Awabakal Aboriginal Medical Service.
Professor Christopher Rowe | Continuing Education Monday 10:30am & Monday 11:30am
Professor Christopher Rowe is a neurologist and nuclear medicine physician, working in the Memory Disorders Clinic and the Molecular Imaging Department of Austin Health, and leading research teams at Austin Health, the University of Melbourne, and the Florey. He is the Director of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) and is the AIBL study of Ageing imaging leader. As well as 405 publications, he has been a Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% world-wide) for Neuroscience and Behaviour since 2016 with 7,900 citations in 2021 alone. THE AUSTRALIAN named him Australia’s leading researcher in Neurology in 2019 and Geriatric Medicine from 2020 to 2022. International awards include the US Society of Nuclear Medicine Kuhl-Lassen Award for Outstanding Contribution to Brain Imaging and the Christopher Clark Award for advancing human amyloid imaging. His research focus is PET brain imaging and blood biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to advance understanding of this disease and the translation of recent advancements in diagnostics for AD into clinical practice.
Professor Colin Masters | Continuing Education Monday 12:00pm
Colin Masters is a Professor of Dementia Research at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne and a consultant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Colin Masters has focused his career on research in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. His work over the last 40 years is widely acknowledged as having had a major influence on Alzheimer’s disease research world-wide, particularly the collaborative studies conducted with Konrad Beyreuther in which they discovered the proteolytic neuronal origin of the Aβ amyloid protein which causes Alzheimer’s disease. This work has led to the continued development of diagnostics and therapeutic strategies and has been recognized by the receipt of many international awards. More recently, his focus has been on describing the natural history of Alzheimer’s disease as a necessary preparatory step for disease modifying therapies.
Dr Marita Long | Continuing Education Monday 12:30pm
Dr Marita Long graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2007 with first-class honours. She became a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practice in 2013 and has a Diploma of Child Health and a Certificate in Sexual and Reproductive Health. She is currently on the board of the Australasian Menopause Society.
Marita works 3 days per week in a busy clinic in the northern suburbs of Melbourne where she is also a GP supervisor. She has also works as a Medical Educator 1 day per week including being one of the lead GP clinical educators for Dementia Training Australia. She is a passionate advocate for all of her patients and has a special interest in both women’s health and people living with Dementia.
Dr Peter Silberberg | Continuing Education Monday 12:30pm
Dr Peter Silberberg is an experienced GP, GP Supervisor and Medical Educator. He recently joined Dementia Training Australia as a medical educator in 2022.
He has worked in many sectors in primary health and currently works as a GP and lead clinician at Rekindling The Spirit Health Service (AMS) in Lismore and as a GP at Lennox Head Medical Centre.
Dr Karen Croot | Continuing Education Monday 1:30pm
Karen Croot has a Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) from Macquarie University and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW, she was a Senior Lecturer in Applied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Sydney. Her research has been supported by the Australian Research Council, the British Academy, the Hazel Hawke Alzheimer’s Research and Care Fund, and the University of Munich. She worked on the CogSCAN Study (A cross-comparison, validation and investigation of performance of computer-administered neuropsychological tests in healthy ageing, mild cognitive impairment and dementia) from 2018-2022, under the mentorship of Study Lead and NHRMC Boosting Dementia Research Investigator Dr Nicole Kochan.
Associate Professor Kerryn Pike | Continuing Education Monday 2:30pm
Associate Professor Kerryn Pike (DPsych (Clin Neuro) MAPS FCCN) is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor in the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia. She also holds an adjunct position at La Trobe University and works clinically in private practice. She is one of the founders of the LaTCH memory management group program, designed to improve the everyday memory of people with mild cognitive impairment. Dr Pike is particularly interested in translating evidence-based neuropsychological interventions into clinical practice and is an expert member of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNET) Cognitive Interventions Working Party, and co-chair of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS)’s Special Interest Group on Neuropsychological Interventions. In terms of research track record, Dr Pike has 58 papers in high quality journals within Psychology and Neuroscience, with high citation rates (>6400), and a book chapter. She has attracted > $6.5 million in research funding to date.
Associate Professor Michael Woodward AM | Continuing Education Monday 3:00pm
Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research and the Memory Clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with major interests in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias. He is Principal Investigator for numerous research trials of new therapies for AD and related disorders. He is a Board member of the national Dementia Australia Research Foundation, as well as one of the 3 Honorary Medical Advisors to Dementia Australia.
He was awarded his MD on the overlap between the dementia syndromes and how memory clinic databases contribute to our understanding of the dementias. More recent research interests have focussed on characterizing the frontal (dysexecutive) variant of Alzheimer’s Disease.
He is Chair of the (adult) Training Accreditation Subcommittee of the RACP and has been extensively involved with training bodies of the College and the ANZSGM for over 30 years.
On Australia Day 2016 he was honoured with the award of Membership of the Order of Australia (AM) for his work in dementia and geriatric medicine, his contribution to these numerous professional bodies, and his body of publications and other writings.
Dr Stephanie Daly | Continuing Education Monday 3:30pm
Dr Stephanie Daly is a GP in Adelaide, originally from the UK and has been working in Adelaide for four years. Dr Stephanie Daly works as a contractor GP in Golden Grove three days a week. She has a strong interest in older persons' health in particular dementia and cognition, as well as health throughout the lifecourse of women. Dr Stephanie Daly is participating in research to better understand the importance of public health campaigns in improving awareness of dementia and cognitive impairment. She is a lead GP educator with Dementia Training Australia, providing educational resources and workshops across Australia. Dr Daly is also the founder of Sensus Cognition a GP led community clinic for cognition and dementia support and assessment.
10 January 2023
10 February 2023
29 May 2023
29-31 May 2023
Abstract
Submissions
Open
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Abstract Submissions Close
Annual Forum Dates
Continuing Education
10 November 2022
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