EXPERT HUB
Expertise: Cognition
#prevention #clinicaltrials #cohorts #drugdiscovery #riskfactors #neuroimaging #pharmacology #exercise #nutrition #pollution #nursing #psychiatry #immunology #lifestyle #psychology #cognition #healthyageing #livingwell #stroke #mentalhealth #wayfinding
Dr Mario Parra Rodriguez
Mario is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and member of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium Executive Committee.
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Mario graduated as a Medical Doctor in 1993 and as a Clinical Neurophysiologist in 1997. He worked at the Cuban Neuroscience Centre and at different University Hospitals in Cuba and in Colombia. During his clinical work he focused on neuropsychological and neurophysiological aspects of dementia syndromes and other neurological disorders and taught neuroscience related subjects in the field of medicine and psychology.
Mario's motivation for teaching and research led me to a major career change into academia. This started with his PhD in 2005 at the University of Edinburgh and continued with three Postdoctoral Fellowships and a position as a Clinical Studies Officer within the NHS Scotland. Mario was as an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh from 2015 until 2018 before joining the University of Strathclyde.
Dr Terry Quinn
Terry holds the post of Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician in Stroke. Terry has a broad research portfolio, his principal research interests are around trial methodology, functional assessment and neuropsychological consequences of cardiovascular disease.
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Terry has published extensively on topics relating to stroke, cognition and test accuracy and has authored original research, opinion pieces and editorials for journals such as British Medical Journal; Journal of the American Medical Association and New England Journal of Medicine.
He is Principal Investigator for a number of studies and holds the inaugural CSO/Stroke Association priority program grant for his research into cognitive outcomes following stroke.
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Terry is passionate about evidence based practice and has worked to raise standards in clinical research involving older adults. He holds editorial board positions with various journals, he is coordinating editor for the Cochrane Dementia Group; member of the Dementia Platforms UK vascular theme and part of the NIHR Complex Reviews Support Unit.
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Communicating science is a particular strength and in his role working with patient, carers and lay public, as lead for the Scottish Stroke Research Network he has initiated a number of schemes around research dissemination and involvement. As clinical member of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Heart Disease and Stroke and advisor to Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Terry has ensured that research results inform policy. A recent example is his role as medical advisor to the National report on atrial fibrillation.
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Terry combines his research portfolio with active teaching and clinical commitments in the stroke units of the major Glasgow hospitals.
Professor Alison Murray
Alison is the Roland Sutton Professor of Radiology at the University of Aberdeen. She is Director of the Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence (SINAPSE) a brain imaging pooling initiative, an executive member of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium and past-president of the Scottish Radiological Society.
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Alison leads NHS molecular brain imaging in people with neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. She has a track record of brain magnetic resonance imaging research in the Aberdeen Birth Cohorts on factors that increase risk of cognitive impairment and conversely, what provides resilience to decline.
She is passionate about the influence of early-life socioeconomic circumstance on late-life brain health
Expertise
#prevention #clinicaltrials #cohorts #riskfactors #cognition
Craig is the Professor of Psychiatry of Ageing at the University of Edinburgh, Director of Edinburgh Dementia Prevention and Director of Brain Health Scotland.
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Craig is internationally renowned for his work on the design and prosecution of clinical trials. He has been Principal Investigator for almost 30 commercial trials in Alzheimer’s disease, National Chief Investigator for 15 in the UK and Global Coordinating Investigator on 6.
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Craig’s research focuses on early detection of disease and the promotion of brain health throughout the life-course to mitigate risks for development and progression of brain diseases that lead to dementia.
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Craig is Chair of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium (SDRC) and Chief Investigator of the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) Consortium and the PREVENT Dementia Programme.
Prof Craig Ritchie
Fraser Sneden
Fraser is a PhD student within the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He is working on data from the XILO-FIST clinical trial, a study which investigates the affect of allopurinol on long-term outcomes following ischaemic stroke.
Fraser is interested in exploring the relationship between carotid artery structure, brain structure and cognition in ischaemic stroke, and developing an automated tool that will estimate vascular parameters of carotid structure including stenosis.
Additionally, he aims to investigate any effects allopurinol has on carotid artery structure, including percentage of stenosis and intima-media thickness
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Miles Welstead
Miles has a BSc and MSc in psychology which has led onto undertaking a PhD studying the individual differences in the causes and consequences of ageing.
In particular Miles is interested in the occurrence of frailty in later life and the risk and preventative factors associated with this.
Frailty can affect a vast number of people and being able to identify those who are at highest risk is a crucial step for us to be able to get people on a healthier trajectory with a lower risk of frailty and subsequently a lower risk of disease, disability and death.
Dr Gordon Waiter
Gordon graduated from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, in 1989 with a BSc (Hons) in Physical Sciences majoring in Physics. He then moved to Dundee University, Department of Medical Physics as Research Assistant, to develop MR imaging test objects. He returned to Aberdeen in 1991, this time to the University of Aberdeen to undertake a PhD in Medical Physics, under the supervision of Dr. M. Foster.
He joined the staff of Aberdeen University in 1996 as a research fellow working in collaboration with the university Department of Biomedical Physics and NHS Department of Cardiology to develop image analysis methods for the detection of hibernating myocardium.
In 2001 Gordon joined the School of Psychology to help initiate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a new 1.5T research dedicated scanner at the University of Aberdeen.
In 2004 he joined the Department of Radiology (now part of the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre) to continue the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging in Aberdeen. His work has included paradigm design, data analysis, data acquisition, quality control and image analysis. Gordon was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2009.
Kate Rivard
Kate has been studying with the University of Stirling since 2007 starting with a BSc in Professional Practice, MSc Advanced Practice. She is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Applied Social Research (dementia studies). Kate works in clinical healthcare settings with people with dementia and in the community with people who have stroke disease. She is interested in the relationship between early years stress and dementia and the sociology of health.
At present, Kate is particularly interested in assessment and intervention pathways for people with stroke and cognitive impairment as her thesis will have a particular focus on therapeutic interventions. Risk factors for dementia and stroke overlap supporting the concept of a shared susceptibility. Major international organisations dealing with stroke and dementia are calling for joint prevention through the same international and national policies.
Prof Louise Phillips
Louise holds a Chair in Psychology at the University of Aberdeen. Her research explores the effects of aging and dementia on cognition, emotions and social functioning.
She is interested in linking together changes in the brain, psychological functions (such as cognition and emotion) and the ability to communicate with others in people who have dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. These cognitive, emotional and social issues in dementia also impact on communication with loved ones and professionals. Also, Louise is interested in the cognitive patterns involved diagnosing dementia, and the role of social and cognitive interventions in preventing or slowing the course of dementia.
Dr Katherine Walesby
Katherine is a clinical research fellow at the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh and Specialist Registrar in Geriatric and General Medicine. Her PhD is investigating geographical variation of dementia using big data in Scotland and New Zealand.
Within research, she is particularly interested in the use of routinely collected electronic health data and big data sets at a local and national level for dementia ascertainment and improving healthcare delivery for those living with dementia.
During her PhD, she received an MRC PhD Studentship travel grant to visit New Zealand. Whilst there she formed collaborations with researchers to investigate dementia and geographical variation within their routinely collected national big data system (Integrated Data Infrastructure, IDI, System). In 2020, they published their work investigating New Zealand’s dementia prevalence using nationally collected secondary care health big data from New Zealand.
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Within Scotland, she is currently investigating dementia ascertainment and geographical variation in the Scottish Mental Survey 1947 (SMS1947) which has been Chi-linked to healthcare data.
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In the future, she hopes to work clinically at providing holistic dementia care in medicine, and academically use her skills to analyse routinely collected healthcare data to improve healthcare delivery for dementia care.