Katya is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) within the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health. Katya is also the former Coordinator of CHeBA's Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. The Memory and Ageing Study (MAS), is one of Australia’s largest and longest running studies of ageing and cognitive health. MAS began in 2005 with the aims of investigating  rates and predictors of healthy cognitive ageing, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in older Australians. Over the last 14 years, MAS has collected biomarker, genetic/epigenomic, neuroimaging, cognitive, proteomics, lipidomics, health, and lifestyle data to determine what factors are associated with cognitively normal ageing and progression to MCI or dementia. To date, MAS has contributed data to over 190 papers published in high impact journals and scores of successful Honours, Masters, and PhD projects

Katya's own research focuses on modifiable lifestyle factors associated with increased dementia risk, the subjective experience of cognitive decline and functional ability, the unique impact of COVID-19 and isolation on older adults, and strategies for combatting negative stereotypes of ageing in younger and older adults. Through her research, Katya aims to improve the health and mental health of older adults via numerous pathways. She uses a range of methods, including epidemiological investigation of large datasets, experimental trials, and creation of new computerised and app-based tools to capture physical and mental health in older adults. Though an early career researcher, Katya has published 22 papers in high impact journals, presented her research at 24 national and international conferences, is an Editor and Reviewer for 21 journals, is a named investigator on grants totalling over $4.6M.  

Click here to read Dr Katya Numbers' ‘Meet Our Researcher’ interview