Speaker bios
Wednesday's Keynote Speakers
Carol Brayne
Professor of Public Health Medicine and Co-Director of Cambridge Public Health Interdisciplinary Centre, University of Cambridge
Carol Brayne is a medically qualified epidemiologist and public health academic. Her main research has been longitudinal studies of older people following changes over time with a public health perspective and focus on the brain. She is the principal investigator in the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies (CFAS) and other population-based studies and has played a leading role in teaching and training in epidemiology and public health at Cambridge University. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an NIHR Senior Investigator Emeritus.
Dr Vanessa Raymont
Senior Clinical Researcher, R&D Director, Oxford NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Vanessa Raymont is a Senior Clinical Researcher at the University of Oxford, Associate Director of DPUK, Joint Deputy Chair of the NIHR D-TRC and R&D Director of Oxford NHS Foundation Trust. She is a highly experienced psychiatrist with over 30 years of clinical and clinical research experience in the UK and USA. Her clinical and research interests include traumatic brain injury, memory disorders, and dementia, as well as clinical trials focused on the prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia.
Professor Marwan Sabbagh
Behavioural Neurologist, Barrow Neurological Institute
Professor Marwan Sabbagh, MD, is a behavioral neurologist in the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Program at Barrow Neurological Institute. He is also a professor and the Vice Chair of Research in the Institute’s Department of Neurology. He is board certified in neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Professor Sabbagh’s expertise includes the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.
Thursday's Keynote Speakers
Professor Martin Orrell
Director of the Institute of Mental Health
Professor Martin Orrell is Director of the Institute of Mental Health, a partnership between the University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, Disabilities and Human Rights at the IMH. He led the research on Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) for dementia which features in NICE dementia guidance and is used in 35+ countries. He has led £20+ million dementia care research grants and has published 400+ academic papers. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator, and is Editor of the international journal Aging & Mental Health.
Professor John-Paul Taylor
NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre Lead for Dementia
Professor John-Paul Taylor is the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre lead for dementia and Professor of Translational Dementia Research at Newcastle University. He is the Chief Investigator for the NIHR HTA COBALT trial, which is investigating the benefits of memantine as an add-on therapy to cholinesterase inhibitors in dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia. Professor John-Paul Taylor has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, and Prof Taylor’s research focuses on the application of neuroimaging and neurophysiological approaches in understanding symptom aetiology in dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia as well as developing better management approaches for people with Lewy body disease. Clinically, he leads a specialist Lewy body dementia clinic in Cumbria, Northumberland NHS Foundation Trust.
Wednesday's Speakers
Dr Dorina Cadar
Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Epidemiology and Dementia, BSMS
Dr Dorina Cadar is the director of the Cognitive Epidemiology, Dementia, and Ageing Research (CEDAR) lab. She is the Principal Investigator of several grants, including 'Cognitive Reserve and dementia', funded by Alzheimer's Society, and 'Social Determinants of dementia in the UK and Japan, funded by the UKRI. Dr Cadar is a Co-Investigator of international grants funded by the ESRC, the National Institute on Aging, the Canadian Institute of Ageing Research and the Japanese Institute of Health. Dr Cadar's research interests and expertise are in the field of cognitive epidemiology and dementia, including immunology, biomarkers, socioeconomic inequalities, psychosocial factors, and other modifiable risk factors, such as lifestyle behaviours, social isolation, cognitive and social resilience.
Professor Malcolm Reed
Dean, BSMS
Professor Malcolm Reed attended school in Birmingham and subsequently qualified in medicine from the University of Sheffield in 1981. He then underwent surgical training in Birmingham, Derby and Bristol before moving to the University of Louisville in the United States to undertake a research MD. He returned to Sheffield and undertook higher surgical training before becoming appointed a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 1992. He was then appointed to the Foundation Chair in Surgical Oncology at the University of Sheffield, taking up the post in 2000. Subsequent roles included Head of Academic Surgery and Head of the University Department of Oncology. Professor Reed was appointed Dean of Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2014.
Professor Andrew Dilley
Head of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, BSMS
Andrew Dilley is Professor in Neuroanatomy at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. He completed a BSc in Anatomy and Development Biology at University College London (UCL) and went on to undertake a PhD in neurophysiology at Kings College London, focussing on the mechanisms underlying the peripheral neuropathy, Guillain-Barré syndrome. Following completion of his PhD, Andrew returned to UCL as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Department of Physiology. At UCL, he established his interest in peripheral neuropathic pain mechanisms. Following this post, he took a position at Harvard Medical School in Boston as an Instructor in Anesthesia. During his time at Harvard, he continued his laboratory research into the role of peripheral neuroinflammation in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Andrew currently leads Phase 1 of the BM BS programme. His external roles include Board member of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) Federative International Programme on Anatomical Research, where he is the lead for Neuroscience Research. From 2018 to 2020, Andrew was the Interim Head of Anatomy for the new Kent and Medway Medical School.
Professor Chakravarthi Rajkumar
Chair of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, BSMS
Professor Chakravarthi Rajkumar is a Chair of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex. To date, he has been actively involved in research in the fields of geriatrics and stroke medicine. He has held various positions in the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Research Network for Kent, Surrey and Sussex. He has been Clinical Director, Associate Director for Early Career Development and also Deputy Director for the past 15 years. He has a wide range of research interests, including clinical trials in the very elderly, hypertension, vascular compliance, frailty, and hospital-acquired infections in the elderly. He has published over 400 abstracts, peer reviewed papers and book chapters on clinical problems in journals including NEJM, The Lancet and JAMA (total 200 publications, 13,979 citations, H Index 49).
Dr Khalid Ali
Senior lecturer in Geriatrics and Stroke Medicine, BSMS
Dr Khalid Ali is a Senior Lecturer in Geriatrics and Stroke Medicine at BSMS and a consultant geriatrician at Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Haywards Heath. Dr Ali is the Ageing speciality research lead in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Clinical Research Network (KSS-CRN) and Champion of Personalised Medicine representing the UK Ageing Research group as well as a member of the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party in the UK. He was a Visiting Professor at Weill Cornell University and the Liz Claiborne Centre for Humanism in Medicine, New York, in October 2016. His academic roles include being the academic secretary for the Cardiovascular Section of the British Geriatrics Society), and the scientific abstracts editor in Age and Ageing Journal. Dr Ali has a long-standing interest in ‘Medical Humanities’ and now works as the film and media correspondent for ‘Medical Humanities BMJ’. In November 2018, he published his book ‘The Cinema Clinic: Reflections on Film and Medicine’ to great critical reception.
Professor Eef Hogervorst
Neuropsychologist and Epidemiologist
Professor Eef Hogervorst did her PhD at the University of Maastricht on age-related cognitive decline, including the use of HRT. She won several prizes for this work and subsequently worked at the Universities of Oxford (1998-2005), Arkansas Medical Sciences USA, and Cambridge University as a neuropsychologist and epidemiologist, investigating risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive decline.
Mrs Margaret Dangoor
Patient and Public Engagement Coordinator
Mrs Margaret Dangoor has been a Research Involvement Manager in the Care Policy Evaluation Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science since 2014 and has been a co-investigator on a number of research projects focusing on dementia and carer issues (including DETERMIND); also a member and past chair of the NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR), user, carer, practitioner, reference group (UCPRG). Margaret was a carer for over 20 years for both her husband and her mother, who both had Alzheimer’s disease. She now chairs an ‘Experts by Experience' carers group for carers of people with dementia for a local charity.
Dr Jeremy Isaacs
Clinical Director, NHS London Dementia Clinical Network
Dr Jeremy Isaacs studied medicine at Cambridge and UCL, where he qualified in 1998. From 2002-2006, he held research posts at KCL Institute of Psychiatry and subsequently at UCL Institute of Neurology. His PhD was in immunology of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
Professor Itamar Ronen
Academic Director of the Clinical Imaging Science Centre, BSMS
Professor Itamar Ronen obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the School of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University, where he worked with Prof. Gil Navon on developing a method for indirect NMR detection of 17O. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota with Dr Seong-Gi Kim and Dr Dae-Shik Kim, he obtained his first academic position at the Boston University School of Medicine, and there, together with Dr Dae-Shik Kim, he co-founded the Center for Biomedical Imaging and a secured a Master’s degree in Bioimaging. In 2009, Itamar moved to the Netherlands, where he joined the C. J. Gorter Center for MRI at the Leiden University Medical Center as PI and Associate Professor, mainly focusing on developing methods for diffusion of intracellular metabolites in humans at ultrahigh field, and recently on developing spectroscopic techniques suitable for low field MR (0.05T). Since October 2021, he has held the positions of Academic Director of the Clinical Imaging Science Centre and Chair in Medical Physics at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School in Brighton, UK.
Dr Gosia Raczek
Honorary Senior Lecturer, BSMS
Dr Gosia Raczek is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at BSMS and a module leader for the MSc in Dementia Studies. She is also a clinical academic consultant in Old Age Psychiatry at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she works in the Memory Assessment Service in North West Sussex and the Dementia Research Unit in Crowborough. Gosia is an investigator in a number of clinical trials and other studies within the CDS in collaboration with UCL and KCL. Her special interest is neuroimaging in dementia, where she collaborates with researchers at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre at BSMS.
Thursday's Speakers
Professor Naji Tabet
Director ofthe Centre for Dementia Studies, BSMS
Professor Naji Tabet, a Professor in Dementia and Old Age Psychiatry, is the Director of the Centre for Dementia Studies (CDS) and the Course Leader of the MSc Dementia Studies at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Prof Tabet also leads the Dementia Theme at the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) KSS, and the CDS research is closely aligned with ARC KSS Dementia Sub-themes. Prof Tabet is also the Dementia Speciality Co-Lead for NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) KSS. Prof Tabet has also been the Principal and UK Chief Investigator on over 35 Phase II-IV therapeutic and diagnostic clinical trials in dementia. The CDS involvement in clinical randomised trials is carried out through the Dementia Research Unit at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which is supported by a dedicated clinical research team working with Prof Tabet.
Dr Stephanie Daley
Reader in Older People’s Mental Health & Education, BSMS
Dr Stephanie Daley set up the Time for Dementia programme at Brighton & Sussex Medical School and has led its evaluation lead and expansion. Her research interests lie in quality of life and quality of care for people with dementia and their carers. Stephanie undertook her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, on the applicability of the concept and practice of recovery for older people with mental health problems. Stephanie has over 30 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist, most recently as the Professional Lead for Occupational Therapy for the Mental Health of Older Adults and Dementia at the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust. Stephanie has also worked as an Organisational Consultant and is an experienced teacher and supervisor for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Yvonne Feeney
Project Manager for Time for Dementia, BSMS
Yvonne Feeney works as the project manager for the Time For Dementia educational programme and supports its implementation and delivery across a range of universities. Yvonne is based at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). Having qualified as an Adult Nurse in 2003 at University College Cork in Ireland, Yvonne spent most of her career managing care services for older adults in social care settings in Scotland before joining the Time for Dementia team in 2016. As part of her work on Time for Dementia, Yvonne is undertaking a PhD at BSMS that focuses on the longitudinal empathy development in healthcare students towards people living with dementia. Yvonne’s research interests centre on improving the quality of life for people with dementia and examining the role of education in shaping empathy and attitudes towards the condition.
Dr Claire Lancaster
Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, BSMS
Dr Claire Lancaster is a lecturer in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Brighton & Sussex Medical School, with a background in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. Claire’s research investigates the impact of carrying a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease - the APOE e4 gene variant, on cognition, brain function and structure across the lifespan and whether we can mitigate the detrimental effects of this gene pharmacologically. In addition, Claire is interested in how our genes interact with wider health (e.g., menopause) and lifestyle factors to influence trajectories of brain ageing. She uses methods including digital and in-person cognitive assessments, neuroimaging and drug interventions in her work.
Dr Ben Hicks
Research Fellow and Programme Co-ordinator for DETERMIND, BSMS
Dr Ben Hicks is a Research Fellow and the Programme Coordinator of the DETERMIND project, based at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. His research concerns supporting quality of life and social inclusion in people with dementia through exploring the differing lived experiences of the condition and addressing the inequalities that may arise in the dementia care pathway. His PhD focused on examining and supporting social inclusion in rural-dwelling older men with dementia through a community technological initiative that was tailored towards their multiple masculinities.
Dr Lavinia Bertini
Research Fellow, BSMS
Dr Lavinia Bertini Dr Lavinia Bertini is a social and medical anthropologist with extensive experience of interdisciplinary health research, where she brings her expertise in ethnographic research methods, critical medical anthropology, and co-production to address health inequities. In 2020, she joined Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS) as a Research Fellow in Public Health, where she has worked on several projects that focus on the interface between public health and adult social care. Dr Bertini has contributed to establishing a portfolio of public health research in home care and care homes.
Dr Nicola Schmidt-Renfree
Research Fellow in Neuroscience, BSMS
Dr Nicola Schmidt-Renfree previously worked as a lecturer in communication at the University of Ulster and as a lecturer in English language at the University of Kent. After moving from Kent to the county of Sussex, she studied for her PhD in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex, and this has led to her interest in developing research and taking up my Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Dr Sarah Polack
Research Fellow, ARC-KSS
Dr Sarah Polack is a research fellow with the NIHR-Applied Research Collaboration Kent, Surrey, Sussex (ARC-KSS) ‘Living Well with Dementia’ theme. Sarah’s current research is on the well-being of people with dementia who live on their own, with a focus on underserved coastal communities. She is exploring access to support and social interaction for people with dementia who live alone in Kent, Surrey and Sussex through interviews with people with lived experience and service providers, as well as systematic reviews on dementia and social isolation. She is also interested in how to strengthen the inclusion of underserved populations in dementia research. Sarah completed her PhD in 2008 at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where she has since worked on a range of mixed-methods research projects related to disability inclusion in the global south.
Dr Lisa Quadt
Department of Neuroscience, BSMS
Dr Lisa Quadt is a cognitive neuroscientist whose interest in the central and autonomic nervous system and the interactions between mind, brain and body are applied to the understanding of neurodivergent individuals. She is a research fellow within the Department of Neuroscience at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex. She attained her PhD at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany, taking an interdisciplinary approach towards a theoretical framework for social cognition that integrated philosophy, cognitive psychology, predictive processing and social neuroscience. Since 2017, at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, she has led the implementation and testing of interoceptive training studies, neuroimaging, behavioural, and self-report studies in clinical and neurodivergent populations.
Dr Nicolas Farina
Associate Professor in Dementia Research, University of Plymouth
Dr Nicolas Farina has over ten years of experience working in the field of dementia research. His interests include understanding and improving the quality of life of people with dementia. Dr Farina is currently is co-lead for the DEM-SKY project, which is implementing dementia screening in rural Kenya. In addition, he is the co-ordinator for the RadioMe project, which seeks to tackle agitation in dementia through the use of music and radio. In recent years, he has led work packages on the STRiDE project, which sought to improve dementia care, treatment & support systems in middle-income countries so that people living with dementia are able to live well whilst also ensuring that family & other carers do not shoulder excessive costs. Dr Farina is an advocate for raising awareness about dementia internationally and has developed a research theme surrounding a better understanding of attitudes towards dementia and how we can combat stigma.
Kath Sykes
Implementation Lead for the Applied Research Collaboration
Kath Sykes is the Living Well with Dementia (and healthy ageing) Implementation Lead for the Applied Research Collaboration, supporting Theme Lead Dr Naji Tabet. Kath is a nurse by background and has worked in the NHS in London and Sussex for over 20 years, leading teams and services in Cancer/Haematology and Clinical Research. Across the system, Kath has worked in Quality and Patient Safety in Commissioning, including Mental Health and Dementia services, and supporting the spread and adoption of innovation as a Tech Navigator at the AHSN. Kath also holds a Master's in Clinical Research, focusing on mixed-method research. Kath is passionate about the health and social care system, quality improvement, and supporting the development and spread of practical, proven innovation that responds to recognised needs by service users, improves our populations' health and care outcomes, and supports our workforce. Kath is delighted to be part of the implementation team of the ARC, working with all stakeholders across Kent, Surrey and Sussex as well as nationally, and ensuring that user needs and their voice are integral to the research we do as an ARC and the solutions we seek to implement.
Alice Russell
Dementia Research Unit
Alice Russell graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2016 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. Since then, she has undertaken a Graduate Psychology Internship with the Adur, Arun and Worthing (AAW) Assessment and Treatment Service (ATS) at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT). Alice’s interest in dementia was established during her university dissertation, where she interviewed dementia carers about how friendships affected their lives. She’s worked as a Research Assistant on the DETERMIND project for the past four years and is currently working at the Dementia Research Unit as a Clinical Research Coordinator.
Atsuko Fujisawa
Dementia Research Unit
Atsuko Fujisawa is a Clinical Research Coordinator working at the Dementia Research Unit for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. She is currently coordinating the NoDem study (University of Sussex) and Evoke a commercial RCT drug study. Atsuko has extensive experience working with people living with dementia and people living with brain injury in various settings. These experiences have led to her interest in research. She has studied for a Gerontology MSc at the University of Southampton and a PG certificate in Dementia Studies at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Julia Fountain
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Julia Fountain co-ordinates Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's Dementia Consultation Group, a group of people who have experience living with dementia. Some of the group members have a diagnosis of dementia, and some have experience caring for a partner or family member who has dementia. The group's role is to talk to researchers about their research and to advise them from a lived experience perspective.
Professor Dennis Chan
University Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge
Dennis Chan is a University Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. He is the clinical academic lead for research into early Alzheimer's disease (AD). Dr Chan undertook a PhD in basic neuroscience under Nobel Laureate Professor John O’Keefe at UCL and subsequently a second research doctorate under Professor Martin Rossor, Institute of Neurology, London. His primary research interest is in identifying alterations in the functions of the entorhinal cortex (EC) and hippocampus, the first brain regions to be affected in AD, with the ultimate aim of diagnosing AD prior to symptom onset.
Professor Sabina Dizdarevic
CISC PET Clinical Lead, BSMS
Professor Sabina Dizdarevic, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCP is the Consultant in Nuclear Medicine and PET-CT Clinical Lead at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Honorary Clinical Professor at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and British Nuclear Medicine Society Research Chair. With colleagues, Prof Dizdarevic has developed a state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging and therapeutic nuclear medicine services in Sussex. In her role of the Chair of the Intercollegiate Standing Committee NM, RCP/RCR (2020-2024) she authored the National guidelines – ‘Evidence-based indications for PET-CT in the UK 2022’.
Professor Heather Ferguson
Divisional Director for Research and Innovation and Honorary Secretary, the Experimental Psychology Society
Professor Heather Ferguson completed her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psycholinguistics at the University of Glasgow in 2007, followed by a two-year postdoctoral research position at University College London. She was appointed as a Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Kent in October 2009 and was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2012, Reader in 2015, and Professor in 2018. She is the Divisional Director for Research and Innovation (2020-2024) and Honorary Secretary for the Experimental Psychology Society (2019-2024).
Dr Samara Banno
Daphne Jackson Fellow, Birbeck, University of London
Dr Samara Banno is a Daphne Jackson Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, in the Department of Psychological Science. Samara's journey began with groundbreaking contributions to educational psychology, where she developed intelligent tutoring systems capable of predicting student performance accurately and effectively. This work contributes to human behaviour and cognition. Samara was awarded a prestigious Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship in partnership with the Medical Research Council. Her work focuses on projects aimed at predicting the early signs of dementia before the onset of mild symptoms. Leveraging her expertise in intelligent modelling, which includes machine learning, deep learning, and other AI techniques, Samara analysed extensive datasets characterised by complex dimensions.