Blog: The Brain Dialogues, filtered by tag: Professor Henry Brodaty AO

KATE CROSBIE and HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Losing a loved one in your family to Alzheimer’s disease is painful and for Susan Coorey, member of Team CHeBA since 2015, the impact is manifold. Susan lost her grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease in 1992 and in January this year she said goodbye to her Aunt Rita as a result of Alzheimer’s disease.  Her beloved Mother also has the condition. “Alzheimer’s disease is very traumatic, not just for the person diagnosed but also for those around them. Our family has been affected multiple times and it really emphasises the need for greater… Read More

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Positive ageing representative, Mr Col Blake, will be running his 43rd City2Surf this year (having missed the first 2 events) and since 2013 has been generously supporting CHeBA in his extraordinary commitment to the annual event.  The 14km hilly run is considered not just Sydney’s favourite sporting event, but the world’s largest fun run boasting more than 80,000 participants in recent years.  Since the very first run on 5 September 1971, Col has gone from completing the event in an enviable 57 minutes, to winning the family category with his sons… Read More

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Professor Henry Brodaty, Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Australia and world-class researcher, clinician, advocate and pioneer, has won the 2016 Ryman Prize as recognition of his three decades of tireless work into ways to combat dementia.  The Ryman Prize is a $250,000 international prize which rewards the best work in the world that has enhanced quality of life for older people. It is the world’s richest prize of its type and was established to create the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for people working in the field… Read More

This article was originally published in MJA Insight. We’re using big data to identify universal and demographic-specific risk and protective factors for dementia, write Henry Brodaty and Perminder Sachdev… LAST month marked the first anniversary of The Dementia Momentum®, an initiative of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales.  The main objective of the initiative is to bring CHeBA’s “big data” approach to bear upon the epidemiology of dementia. At the same time, it aims to raise community awareness about the challenge of dementia, and presents… Read More

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Failure to use a standardised approach is limiting the effectiveness of research into whether microRNAs (miRNAs) can be used as a blood biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease.  Researchers at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Australia conducted a systematic review investigating research into miRNAs as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and found that few studies assessed the same miRNAs and where they did, methodological differences between the studies made it hard to validate findings. The research, led by CHeBA PhD student Dr… Read More

KATE CROSBIE and HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Following his incredible display of support as competitor in the inaugural Wipeout Dementia® campaign in May, Managing Director of Colliers International Residential, Peter Chittenden, arranged for Colliers to become the first Silver Member of The Dementia Momentum®. Colliers’ $30,000 donation came in the wake of Mr Chittenden’s personal fundraising achievement of over $7,500 in the May event.  Drawing on his positive experience, Mr Chittenden gave an inspiring presentation at the Wipeout Dementia® cocktail event hosted by AMP… Read More

KATE CROSBIE and HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Since the official launch of CHeBA in 2012, dynamic husband and wife duo Tiffany and Chris Jessop have generously supported us every step of the way. In a jump from volunteer supporter to competitor and fundraiser, Chris Jessop recently participated in CHeBA’s Wipeout Dementia® campaign – a four week gruelling strength for surfing program culminating in a Surf Off contest between three teams on 28 November 2015 – and raised a sensational $5,500 for The Dementia Momentum® in the process. Tiffany is the Project Coordinator on the HALT… Read More

KATE CROSBIE The Dementia Momentum® gained its first Bronze Member, Mrs Jan Surnicky of Rose Bay, who generously donated $10,000 in July to help advance research into dementia prevention in honour of her late husband, Emil Surnicky. Mrs Surnicky originally intended to provide the donation as a gift in her will. After discussion with her family, she decided that donating to The Dementia Momentum® initiative of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) now would help improve outcomes for patients faster and, ideally, prevent a rise in dementia incidence. “We, the Surnicky family, hope that… Read More

KATE CROSBIE and HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au The first Founding Members of The Dementia Momentum® were Phil Cave AM and wife Judy Harris, who generously came on board as Platinum Members of this initiative in support of their close friend, spokesman for The Dementia Momentum®, Richard Grellman AM and his wife Suellen, who has advanced young onset Alzheimer's disease. Their contribution of $100,000, prior to the official launch in March 2015, has been integral to the development of this research initiative. Phil and Judy said it has always been their priority to support both… Read More

KATE CROSBIE Dave Brodaty, son of CHeBA Co-Director Professor Henry Brodaty, is optimistic about the future of brain ageing. “It is apparent even through Henry’s medical career that our understanding of brain ageing and the medical responses to it have developed considerably,” says Dave. “Being the eternal optimist, I am confident that with the great minds researching this area, even though a cure may not be attainable yet, the course of brain ageing will be dealt with much better – and become far less of an unknown.” This is the first year Dave will be entering the City 2 Surf, alongside… Read More