Hello World!

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Centre for Dementia Prevention at the University of Edinburgh. The Centre (CDP) is an institute ‘without walls’ and will bring together social sciences, basic sciences, drug discovery and clinical expertise in efforts to understand and tackle the key risk factors that underline dementia.

Dementia is a major public health issue and there are currently 850,000 people in the UK living with the condition. We know that pathology underlining some types of dementia,

Image

including Alzheimer’s, begins in mid life, well before the onset of any symptoms. We are committed to understanding these early changes and deciphering risk factors that influence a person’s chance of developing dementia. With that knowledge, we will be in a powerful, informed position to implement ways in which to prevent dementia.

The CDP is led by Professor Jean Manson of the Roslin Institute, Professor Charlotte Clarke of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Health in Social Science, and Professor Craig Ritchie of the Department of Psychiatry.

Dementia is an enormous public health issue and will take combined efforts to tackle it. The foundation of the CDP is a much-needed step forward in strengthening research collaborations across academic disciplines, and will facilitate links with national policy makers, colleagues in the third sector and the NHS.

Our launch will be marked on Wednesday 25^th November 2015 at an academic day of talks at the Edinburgh College of Art outlining our mission and the science behind secondary prevention of dementia. We are thrilled to host local speakers including the Chief Scientist, Prof Andrew Morris as well as European colleagues including Prof Miia Kivipelto from the Karolinska Institute. Henry Simmons from Alzheimer Scotland will outline our commitment to integrating with the third sector. We hope to see many of you there!

Stay tuned to #CDPLaunch and follow @CenDemPrevent on Twitter to see how the talks go. A post-match analysis on how the launch went will be posted on this news page in the following days!