Great Minds event (online): the outlook for new dementia treatments

Dementias Platform UK – Great Minds is delighted to invite you to another online live event.

We've brought together leading figures in dementia diagnosis and treatment to offer a rare, expert-led insight into the latest developments in the field.

Topics will include recent advances in our understanding of dementia, emerging treatment options, how new drugs make it to the NHS, and the role technology can play in diagnosis and condition management. Attendees will also have the opportunity to put questions to our experts.

The event is aimed at anyone with an interest in dementia and dementia research - no specialist scientific knowledge is required.

Programme (Thursday 9 June)

• 2.00pm – Introduction from Professor John Gallacher (Director of Dementias Platform UK, University of Oxford)

• 2.20pm – Dr Ivan Koychev (Great Minds lead, University of Oxford): Advances in our understanding of dementia

• 2.45pm – Break

• 3.00pm – Dr Liz Coulthard (Associate Professor in Dementia Neurology, University of Bristol): Emerging treatment options

• 3.25pm – Dr Megan John (GP partner and NICE committee chair): Bringing drugs to the NHS

• 3.50pm – Break

• 4.05pm – Dr Jenny Barnett (Senior Scientific Advisor, Five Lives): The role of technology in the diagnosis and management of dementia

• 4.30pm – Panel Q&A (all speakers)

• 4.55pm – Concluding remarks

This event will be broadcast live and for free via YouTube. You will be sent a link to the broadcast by email when you register for the event.

We plan to make a recording of the event available to watch afterwards on the Dementias Platform UK YouTube channel.

A limited number of in-person tickets are available for this event, which is being hosted at the University of Bristol. Click here to register for an in-person ticket.

Speaker biographies

Professor John Gallacher is Professor of Cognitive Health at Oxford University and Director of Dementias Platform UK. An expert on brain health and the use of big data in medical research, Professor Gallacher holds a visiting professorship at Imperial College London and an honorary professorship at the University of Hong Kong. He is the principal investigator for the Caerphilly Prospective Study and a member of the UK Biobank Strategic Oversight Committee.

Dr Ivan Koychev leads the Great Minds register on behalf of Dementias Platform UK. He is a clinical academic psychiatrist with a focus on the development of treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. Ivan's research experience spans the key components of neuroscience clinical trial methodology. He has a particular interest in the development of digital technology for the detection of preclinical Alzheimer's disease. Clinically, he is focused on the assessment and management of patients with neuropsychiatric presentations in acute medical settings.

Dr Liz Coulthard is an associate professor in dementia neurology at the University of Bristol. She leads the ReMemBR group (Research into Memory, the Brain and Dementia) and runs a cognitive disorders clinic focusing on early, accurate diagnosis of dementia. Her research looks at early markers of and interventions for Alzheimer's disease. In particular, she investigates sleep in early Alzheimer's disease and the relationship between long-term memory, sleep and Alzheimer's with a view to developing interventions for sleep to help prevent decline and improve quality of life in prodromal and established Alzheimer's.

Dr Megan John completed undergraduate medical and surgical studies at Imperial College London, with an additional business management degree focusing on health care management. Her medical studies started in the same year as the inception of NICE. This motivated Megan to pursue evidence-based medicine and analysis in the provision of NHS therapies, and addressing equity of access to health care, as her continued fields of special interest. Since completing her training, Megan has worked as a general practitioner and practice partner, with special interests in health care service commissioning, cross-sector leadership and collaboration, minor surgery, dementia and sexual health. Megan is chair of NICE technology appraisal committee D.

Dr Jenny Barnett trained in psychology, psychiatric epidemiology and genetics at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, before finding her niche in the digital health industry. She has been responsible for the development of approved medical devices for use in mainstream health care and novel brain assessments using smartphones, wearables, and home assistants. Jenny retains academic links in Cambridge and Finland, and has co-authored more than 60 academic papers and two popular science books.

More

Any questions about this event? Please email greatminds@psych.ox.ac.uk.

You can watch our Great Minds members' event on advances in dementia research here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZ15x70iXs

Our event on healthy ageing is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXIgYxiCLhU

Great Minds is part of Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) and brings together health study volunteers and scientists to spearhead research into finding new treatments and better diagnosis for dementia. Our members play an active part in fast-tracking research by sharing their health data and volunteering for dementia studies and trials. Researchers can precision-match our volunteers to new studies that will help identify changes in the brain that may be the origins of poor brain health.