Making headway in dementia research
Since its inauguration in 2018, the Sydney Dementia Network (SDN) has connected over 500 researchers across Sydney, bringing together dementia researchers, clinicians, people living with dementia and other stakeholders to accelerate dementia research and translation into practice. The Network includes partnerships with our local health networks, the Sydney Health Partners Geriatrics CAG, and aged care providers.
The network collaborates across institutions in Australia with almost 400 members. Since 2022, SDN members have been awarded over $32 million in Category 1-4 funding, including MRFF and NHMRC funding. The membership has published 561 papers with dementia and related top clusters since 2022, with an almost 50 percent international publication collaboration.
Over 400,000 Australians currently live with dementia, a third of them currently in New South Wales and greater Sydney. Dementia is an umbrella term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Superstars in Dementia research
A/Prof Ramon Landin-Romero
A/Prof Ramon Landin-Romero is a researcher in the Faculty of Medicine and Health's School of Health Sciences, an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and the Neuroimaging Lead of Frontier and ForeFront, an internationally renowned constellation of research groups that use clinical, neuroimaging and molecular approaches to progress knowledge in a spectrum of young-onset, non-Alzheimer’s dementias and motor degenerative syndromes.
He leads a neuroimaging program that develops methods and investigations to uncover the underlying disease mechanisms and neural bases of dementia. He is the Coordinator of the Brain Imaging Interest Group (BIIG) at the Sydney Clinical Imaging Network.
A/Prof Ramon Landin-Romero
Working in synergy with clinicians, neuroscientists, people living with dementia, and their families, we can pave the way for enhanced diagnostics, more accurate prognostics, and ultimately, improved treatment for this challenging disease.
Dr Eleanor Drummond
Dr Eleanor Drummond
Dr Eleanor Drummond is a researcher in the Faculty of Medicine and Health's School of Medical Sciences, and the co-founder of the newly created Alzheimer’s and Dementia research team at the Brain and Mind Centre, along with Professor Sharon Naismith who is part of the Executive leadership committee of SDN. Eleanor and Sharon set out to put dementia research at the University of Sydney on the map, by means of collaborating with researchers across multiple disciplines in a cohesive way. Eleanor is a neuroscientist who is passionate about understanding the cause of neurodegenerative disease.
We’ve recently made some exciting discoveries including identifying proteins that we believe are altered in the brain in the very first stages of Alzheimer’s disease and discovery of a new potential biomarker of cerebral amyloid angiopathy.
Dementia Action Week with Dementia Australia
During Dementia Action Week in Australia with Dementia Australia the Sydney Dementia Network works with the local councils to give healthy brain aging public talks, promoting awareness of risk factors, early symptoms and how to talk to a GP about getting an assessment.
The SDN’s Lived Experience Expert Advisory Panel (LEEAP) co-chaired by Prof Muireann Irish and Dr Claire O’Callaghan provides dementia researchers with advice on research priorities, design, interpretation and dissemination.
Dementia Talks Accessible to the Public
Tuesday 17 September, Inner West Council, What’s On