Nalini Sen is the Director of the Research Program at the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Nalini brings with her over 16 years of experience overseeing peer review processes for national funding agencies, developing research communication strategies, and cultivating partnerships with research funders in private and public sectors. Nalini holds a Masters in Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and has previously held leadership roles overseeing research programs for national voluntary health organizations in Canada.

Dre Marie-Andrée Bruneau obtained a graduated degree in psychiatry in 2001, and a master’s degree in biomedical sciences from University of Montreal. Certified as a geriatric psychiatrist by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2013, Dr. Bruneau is also clinical associate professor at the Psychiatry Department of University of Montreal and the Executive Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry division. Researcher at the CRIUGM, Dr. Bruneau also leads a BPSD program at the IUGM. She is involved in several projects with the Health Ministry of Quebec for the Alzheimer plan.

Dr. Mario Masellis obtained his MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto in 1997, completed his medical training at the University of Toronto in 2001 and obtained his FRCP(C) in Neurology since 2006. He has completed a clinical research fellowship in Cognitive & Movement Disorders Neurology and obtained a PhD in Clinical Neurosciences. His clinical expertise is in the diagnosis and management of both Alzheimer’s and non-Alzheimer’s dementias, including Lewy body disorders, frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome. His research focuses on how genomic factors impact neuroimaging and cognitive phenotypes, and response to drugs in neurodegenerative diseases

Geoff Anderson’s vision for the role linked health system and population-based survey data in dementia is presented in detail in a OECD report “Dementia Research and Care: Can Big Data Help?” He co-edited. The report was a product of an international meeting sponsored by the OECD, the Ontario Brain Institute and the University of Toronto that brought together researchers and policy makers in 2014. He has worked with researchers across Canada to fund work linking health system data to the CLSA for dementia research.

Stacey Hawkins is a Gerontologist serving as Director, System Planning, Implementation and Evaluation with Seniors Care Network. Stacey leads a growing research program examining specialized geriatrics services, as well as the Central East Geriatric Emergency Management (GEM) Program. Stacey supports various system and program work, employing her skills in grant-writing, program development/planning, research and evaluation methodology, analytics, and competency-based, continuing professional development. Stacey is currently completing her PhD at the University of Waterloo. Her primary research interests examine the social dimensions of care for persons with young-onset dementias, and the intersections of social and health environments.

Dr. Naglie is a physician scientist in Geriatric Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology. He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and he holds the Hunt Family Chair in Geriatric Medicine. He is the Vice President of Medical Services and Chief of Staff, and Chief of Medicine at Baycrest Health Sciences, and a Scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute. His research focuses on driving issues in older adults and he is a Co-Lead of the Driving and Dementia Research Team for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Dr. Jennifer Watt is a geriatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She completed medical school at the University of Ottawa, residency in internal medicine at Western University, and residency in geriatric medicine at the University of Toronto. In June 2019, she will be granted a doctorate of philosophy in clinical epidemiology and health care research. Her doctoral thesis used knowledge synthesis and observational study methods to describe the comparative efficacy and safety of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions in older adults with dementia. She received local, national, and international awards for her doctoral thesis including the 2019 Thomas & Edna Naylor Memorial Award for the best paper by a graduate trainee completing their thesis at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation; a CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research 2019 Rising Star Award; and an award for the best poster in epidemiology at the 2018 American Geriatrics Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

Dr. Linda Lee is a Care of the Elderly family physician, Schlegel Research Chair in Primary Care for Elders, and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She has developed a Primary Care Memory Clinic model and training program which has assisted 110 primary care sites in Ontario to develop new Memory Clinics. In recognition for her leadership, she was awarded the 2014 Ontario Minister’s Medal Honouring Excellence in Health Quality and Safety, and in 2015, she received the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging Betty Havens Award for Knowledge Translation in Aging.

Dr. Tejal Patel is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy, and a clinical pharmacist with the Memory Clinic at the Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team in Kitchener, Ontario. Dr. Patel obtained her PharmD from the University of Kentucky and completed a Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in Neurology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her clinical practice and research is focused on the pharmacotherapeutic management of neurological disorders, and medication use process in the older adult, with a particular focus on the use of potentially inappropriate medications, polypharmacy, capacity to manage medications and adherence.

Alireza Atri is a cognitive neurologist, neuroscientist, clinical researcher and educator in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Related Dementias (ADRD). He is the Director of the Banner Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, AZ, and serves on the neurology faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. He specializes in the care of individuals with cognitive disorders and AD/ADRD. Dr. Atri holds degrees from U.C.L.A. (Ph.D Biomathematics), U.C.S.F. (M.D.) and Harvard Medical School (M.M.Sc.). He completed post-graduate training and clinical and research fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Boston University and MIT. His research focuses on early detection, risk reduction, experimental therapeutics and best care practices in AD/ADRD.

Dr. Elisabeth Azuelos is a family doctor who, from the start of her career, has focused on geriatrics. She practises at the Laval CISSS in ambulatory geriatrics, where almost 90 percent of her patients present cognitive impairment. In collaboration with the SAAQ and the Collège des médecins, she trains physicians to assess fitness to drive. She collaborates with the Ministère de la Santé on implementation projects for managing dementia. Mandated by the Collège des médecins and the Curateur public, she conducts a workshop for physicians on medical assessment of competency.

Dr Howard Bergman was the first Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Professor of Geriatric Medicine (2001-2015). He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS).

In 2000, as a member of the Quebec independent Commission he authored the recommendation creating the Family Medicine Groups (GMF). In 2009, he authored the Quebec Alzheimer Plan. He co-created The Canadian Team for Healthcare services/system improvement in dementia.

He chaired the CAHS Panel assembled at the request of Public Health Agency of Canada that published in January 2019 the report Improving the quality of life and care of persons living with dementia
https://www.cahs-acss.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Report.pdf

Sandra Black is a Professor of Medicine (Neurology), is an internationally renowned cognitive and stroke neurologist in the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto and Sunnybrook HSC, who held inaugural Brill Chair in Neurology (2006-17). A leading clinical trialist in dementia, she is the Executive Director of the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance, a collaboration of UofT memory programs. She is the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program Director at Sunnybrook. Her 30-year research career has bridged dementia and stroke, using neuroimaging to study brain-behavior relationships. She has >550 papers (Google H=108; >68,000citations). Her recognition includes Fellowship, Royal Society of Canada (2012), UofT Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award (2015), an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo (2018). She was named to the Order of Ontario in 2011, cited as an assiduous physician leader and influential architect of the Ontario Stroke System, and her appointment as Officer, Order of Canada (2015), cited her contributions to Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and vascular dementia.

Christian Bocti is a cognitive neurology specialist trained at the University of Toronto and at McGill University, after completing his MD and Neurology residency at Université de Montréal. He is now a neurologist and Associate Professor at Université de Sherbrooke. He practices at the Memory Clinic of the Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Sherbrooke and at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke. His research focuses on correlations between brain imaging and cognitive functions, as well as improving care for people with cognitive impairment.

Dr. Carrie Bourassa is the Scientific Director of CIHR’s Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (IIPH). Through IIPH, she leads the advancement of a national health research agenda to improve and promote the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canada. First housed in the Health Sciences North Research Institute in Sudbury, the Institute is now operating from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon where she is a tenured Professor in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, College of Medicine.

Dr. Bourassa spent over 15 years as a professor of Indigenous health studies in the Department of Indigenous Health, Education and Social Work at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) in Regina.

She is a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada and a public member of the Royal College Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

In 2012, Dr. Bourassa won the Wiichihiwayshinawn Foundation Inc. Métis Award in Health and Science.

Dr. Bourassa is Métis and belongs to the Riel Métis Council of Regina Inc. (RMCR, Local #34). She earned her Master of Arts degree in political science and Ph.D. in social studies at the University of Regina.

Sienna Caspar is an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge in the Faculty of Health Sciences—Therapeutic Recreation program. Her areas of research include: organizational behaviour, empowerment, interprofessional teamwork and collaboration, quality of care and quality of life in dementia care, and holistic approaches to wellness. She is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and a dementia care specialist. Prior to obtaining her graduate degrees she worked in long-term care homes for 20 years as a recreation therapist and consultant. She is passionate about improving quality of care and life for people living with dementia in continuing care.

Jocelyn Downie is the James Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law at Dalhousie University. Her work on end-of-life law and policy includes: Special Advisor to the Canadian Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide; author of Dying Justice: A Case for the Decriminalizing Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Canada; and member of the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on End-of-Life Decision-Making, the plaintiffs’ legal team in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying, and the Canadian Council of Academies Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying.

Dr. Ducharme is an FRQS funded junior 1 clinician-scientist in Neuropsychiatry working at the Montreal Neurological Institute. He has clinical expertise in the differential diagnosis between FTD and primary psychiatric disorders, and has authored several major articles on this topic. His current projects aim to develop novel neuroimaging diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for FTD. He is the Montreal site PI of the Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia Initiative study and co-leader of the FTD team of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging. He is the chair of the American Neuropsychiatric Association Committee on Research. He is in charge of several clinical trials in dementia at the MNI.

Medical studies at Université de Montréal, Neurology training at McGill University, Research Fellowship at Prof. TL Sourkes laboratory, Allen Memorial Institute, Montreal. Clinical investigator and staff neurologist at the Montreal Neurological Hospital and Institute (1976-1986), Director of the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging (1986-1996), Senior Scientist of the CIHR-Rx&D program (1997-2007). Currently Professor in the Departments of Neurology & Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Medicine, at McGill University, and Director of the Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Research Unit of the McGill Center for Studies in Aging, Douglas Hospital. Recipient of the Order of Canada in 2014 and the Order of Quebec in 2017.

Contributions to research include design and implementation of randomized clinical trials in order to establish the safety and efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors, muscarinic agonists, and agents possibly modifying progression for Alzheimer’s disease. Special interests include consensus approach to the management of dementia in different stages, the ethics of research involving persons with dementia, and prevention strategies against cognitive decline and dementia. 575 articles published, h-index 96.

Dr. Goodarzi is a clinician scientist at the University of Calgary Hotchkiss Brain Institute. Her research focus in on the non-cognitive symptoms in persons with dementia and non-motor symptoms in persons with Parkinson’s Disease. Her research expertise focuses on knowledge synthesis and qualitative methods.

She is involved with CCNA as an Investigator with the Canadian Team for Healthcare Services and System Improvement in Dementia Care, and her research team participates in the COMPASS-ND trial, a longitudinal study to collect important observational data on people with dementia.

Dr. Jenny Ingram is a geriatrician practicing in Peterborough, Ontario. She is the Founder, Medical Director and Qualified Investigator at Kawartha Centre – Redefining Healthy Aging, a community-based geriatric clinic and clinical research site.

She is involved with CCNA as an Investigator with the Canadian Team for Healthcare Services and System Improvement in Dementia Care, and her research team particpates in the COMPASS-ND trial, a longitudinal study to collect important observational data on people with dementia.

Dr. Ingram has been instrumental in building the foundation for community and hospital-based geriatric programs in Central East Ontario, which continue to evolve with well-formed partnerships and innovative thinking.

Dr. Ismail attended both medical school and residency in Alberta finishing in 1999. He worked initially at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary for 6 years in an academic hospital setting. He then took a sabbatical at the University of Toronto and did a fellowship in Geriatric Neuropsychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Subsequently, Dr. Ismail took a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto at the Centre for Addiction in Mental Health. In addition to running an inpatient teaching team, Dr. Ismail was head of the CAMH Memory Clinic. After 6 years in Toronto he returned to the University of Calgary at the Cumming School of Medicine in August 2011. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Cumming School of Medicine. He is working with patients across the neuropsychiatric spectrum. Dr. Ismail’s research interests revolve extensively around the interface between cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms including studies of cognitive and neuropsychiatric screening, neuroimaging and biomarkers of neuropsychiatric illnesses, clinical psychopharmacology/clinical trials, adverse drug reactions/drug interactions, and epidemiology. He is certified in Behavioural Neurology and Neuropsychiatry by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, is a member of the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, and the Ron and Rene Ward Centre for Healthy Brain Aging Research. Dr. Ismail is an author on the recent CANMAT depression treatment guidelines and the CPA Clinical Practice Guidelines for Schizophrenia, and is co-chair of the 5th Canadian Consensus Conference for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia.

Dr. Krista L. Lanctôt has a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Toronto, with additional training in pharmacoepidemiology. She is currently a Senior Scientist in Geriatric Psychiatry and in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook Research Institute, and the Head of Neuropsychopharmacology Research. She is a Full Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology/Toxicology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Lanctôt is an active researcher in clinical pharmacology with over 250 publications. Her group’s research has focused on optimizing the pharmacotherapy of cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with dementia and in predementia states.

Gill Livingston is professor of psychiatry of older people in UCL Division of Psychiatry, and a consultant psychiatrist, Camden &Islington NHS FT. She led the Lancet International Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, launched in 2017 and works to its strapline “Acting now on dementia prevention, intervention, and care will vastly improve living and dying for individuals with dementia and their families, and in doing so, will transform the future for society.” She is leading the new Lancet standing commission. Her research includes a life-course analysis of risk of dementia and economic value of intervention.

Médecin au GMF Loretteville et au CH Chauveau à l’équipe de consultation spécialisé en Psychogériatrie. Médecin responsable de la phase 1 et phase 2 plan Alzheimer québécois pour la région de Québec. Participation au comité à l’INESSS sur le guide d’utilisation optimal du traitement de la maladie d’Alzheimer et de la démence mixte. Participation à plusieurs comités ministériels dont l’élaboration du processus clinique. Investigateur principal chez Alpha Recherche Clinique pour les essais cliniques en maladie d’Alzheimer.

Mary Schulz has been the Director, Information, Support Services and Education at the Alzheimer Society of Canada (ASC) since 2006. A Social Worker by profession, she has spent her career in health care, primarily working with older adults and their families. Mary is honoured to be working with the ASC’s Advisory Group of people with dementia, who launched Canada’s first Charter of Rights for people with dementia in 2018. Meaningfully engaging people with dementia is critical in ensuring that ASC’s work is relevant, informed by lived experience.

Dr. Eric Smith is Professor of Neurology, Radiology, and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, where he directs the Cognitive Neurosciences Clinic and is a member of the Calgary Stroke Program. He holds the endowed Katthy Taylor Chair in Vascular Dementia at the University of Calgary. Dr. Smith’s research uses neuroimaging to investigate the risk factors for, and consequences of, cerebral small vessel disease in healthy populations and in patients with cognitive disorders or cerebral amyloid angiopathy. He co-leads the Vascular Cognitive Impairment team of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Dr. David Tang-Wai is an associate professor in neurology and geriatric medicine at the University of Toronto. He received his MD degree from McGill University. He completed his neurology residency and behavioral neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Tang-Wai is the co-director of University Health Network Memory Clinic. He has received multiple teaching awards - both locally and internationally. Dr. Tang-Wai's research interests include the progressive aphasias, the atypical presentations of Alzheimer's disease – especially posterior cortical atrophy, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and the autoimmune encephalopathies.

Marilyn Taylor was born in Halifax but spent her youth and working years in South Eastern Alberta, where she worked as a purchasing agent in gas and oil production. She is a mother, stepmother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Marilyn was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. She has been a speaker at Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia events and enjoys their programs. Last spring, she attended the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Dementia conference. She is a member of the Alzheimer Society of Canada’s Advisory Group of people with dementia.

Dr. Vedel conducts health services research for older patients with chronic diseases in particular for persons living with dementia. She is the co-founder, and scientific director of the pan-Canadian research team “Research on the Organization of Health Services for Alzheimer” ROSA funded by the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CIHR). She is involved in providing evidence for policy-decision making. She is responsible for the evaluation of the Alzheimer's plan in Quebec and participated as an expert with the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in the development of the national strategy on Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Dr. Chertkow is a practicing cognitive neurologist at the Baycrest Health Sciences of University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Chertkow’s lab is the first to show that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can produce clinically meaningful improvement in language disorders in elderly individuals with neurodegenerative disease. He is senior author of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which has become an international standard for diagnosis of MCI, has been cited over 8,000 times, and is the most cited paper in the field of neurology in the world in the 21st century. In 2014 Dr. Chertkow was elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. At that time he also became the Scientific Director for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a national organization overseeing dementia research.

Dr Laforce is a Behavioral Neurologist and Clinical Neuropsychologist at La Clinique Interdisciplinaire de Mémoire in Quebec City. He got his PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology in 1998, worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick until 2002 before he undertook an MD program at Laval University and completed his Neurology Residency in 2011. He pursued a fellowship at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California Berkeley with Dr Bruce Miller and Dr Gil Rabinovici. Throughout his career, Dr Laforce has published over 150 publications in international peer-reviewed journals including Lancet Neurology, Brain, Neurology, Annals of Neurology, CMAJ, etc. He contributed to several book chapters on atypical dementias. Dr Laforce has several ongoing projects including the development and validation of the DCQ a new cognitive screening tool (www.dcqtest.org) as well as the use of biomarkers (CSF, FDG-PET and amyloid imaging) in the early detection of atypical dementia. He holds a Chair on Primary Progressive Aphasia. He is currently the principal site investigator for several national and international projects, including the Genetic Frontotemporal Initiative (GENFI) and the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN).

Ron is VP Innovation and CTO of Baycrest Health Sciences. Ron is responsible for driving innovation at Baycrest including the introduction of new information systems, tools and digital services for clients, clinicians, researchers and educators. Among his responsibilities, Ron oversees the Baycrest Innovation Office and a transformational initiative called Baycrest @ Home, which will lever emerging technologies to enable seniors to age successfully at home. In 2015, Ron helped found and was the inaugural Managing Director of the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) – a $124M, 5-year investment by the Governments of Ontario and Canada, community donors and industry partners.

Dr. Jayna Holroyd-Leduc is an academic geriatrician. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto, before completing a research fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco through the VA Quality Scholar program. She is currently the Geriatric Medicine Division Head, Department of Medicine Deputy Head and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. She holds the University of Calgary Brenda Strafford Foundation Chair in Geriatric Medicine. Her research involves the use of knowledge translation science to improve the care provided to vulnerable older adults. She is the KT Committee Chair of the Canadian Frailty Network.

Manuel Montero-Odasso, Prof of Medicine and Director of the Gait & Brain Lab at Western, has established a successful research program on “Gait & Brain Health” while remaining an active geriatrician. He is the PI for the “Gait & Brain Study” aimed to test motor-cognitive interactions as a predictor of falls, dementia, and frailty. He has shown that the dual-task gait test can be used to predict dementia in MCI. He led RCTs using pharma and non-pharma interventions to improve cognition and mobility. He co-leads the “Gait-Balance Platform” in ONDRI and the Team 12 (Mobility, Exercise & Cognition) in CCNA. He has received over 6M in peer-reviewed funding (CIHR & others) and published over 100 per-reviewed articles in high-caliber journals such as JAMA, Brain, JAGS, and JGMS.

Dr. Hudon is a mid-career Scholar in neuropsychology. He his Full Professor at the School of Psychology of Universite Laval and Regular Research at the CERVO Brain Research Centre. He also co-leads the Cognition/SCPD expert group of the Quebec’s Consortium for the Early Identification of Alzheimer’s Disease. His research work mainly focusses on early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and also on the secondary prevention of cognitive decline. His presentation today will be on the prevention portion of is research programme.

Dr. Fischer is a staff psychiatrist with the Mental Health Service at St. Michael’s Hospital and director of Geriatric Psychiatry at St. Michael’s Hospital. She is an associate scientist and co-director Neurodegenerative Research, Division of Neuroscience Research, at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Research, the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada. She has an academic appointment as Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and was recently appointed an associate editor of the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease and elected academic co-chair of the Neuropsychiatric Symptom Professional Interest Area ISTAART.

Dr. Seitz is an Associate Professor and Clinician Scientist at Queen’s University and Chair of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at Queen’s University. He is the Program Medical Director for Seniors Mental Health at Providence Care in Kingston. He completed his PhD training in clinical epidemiology and health services research at the University of Toronto. He was the Provincial Medical Lead for Dementia Capacity Planning in Ontario and current President of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry. His research examines health service utilization of older adults with psychiatric disorders; evaluation of the safety and efficacy of treatments for geriatric mental health conditions; and, knowledge translation in geriatric mental health. His research has been supported by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Alzheimer’s Association and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.