World Brain Day 2025

Awareness: 

Raising public understanding of brain health is central to the Row Fogo Centre’s mission. SVD often begins without obvious symptoms, meaning that public and professional education is essential. The Row Fogo centre helps to equip healthcare professionals and the wider public with the knowledge they need to take brain health seriously. We do this through public lectures and events, open-access resources, and contributions to medical training programmes.

For example, last year at the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Curious festival, our researchers joined forces with clinicians and people living with dementia to explore the links between blood vessel health and brain function. The session focused on vascular dementia and emphasised how lifestyle changes, public engagement, and lived experience can all help shape more effective dementia research and care. Learn more about this event: Vascular Dementia in the Spotlight: Experts and Public Unite at Successful RSE Event.

Learn more about cSVD here: What is cerebral Small Vessel Disease?

Education: 

The Row Fogo Centre is proud to support the next generation of brain health researchers through dedicated training and mentorship. Our wonderful PhD students play a central role in advancing the understanding of SVD.

For example, postdoctoral research fellow Dr Dany Jaime Garcia completed her PhD (funded by the Wellcome Trust) at the Row Fogo Centre. Dany’s PhD research was translational in nature, incorporating laboratory models, post-mortem brain tissue, and clinical imaging studies. Her award-winning work explored how dysfunction in pericytes and endothelial cells contributes to SVD, helping to bridge the gap between basic science and patient care. You can learn more about Dany’s work as a PhD student here.

Rebecca Robertson, is now a second-year PhD student on the Precision Medicine programme. Rebecca investigates how extracellular vesicles (basically, tiny packages released by cells) might signal dysfunction in the brain’s blood vessels. Her research aims to uncover new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for SVD. Last year, Rebecca won the flash talk prize at the UK DRI Vascular theme workshop for her presentation on abnormal vesicle signalling in SVD. Learn more about Rebecca’s work here. 

Prevention: 

Much of the Row Fogo Centre’s research focused on helping to prevent stroke and dementia by identifying early warning signs of SVD. For example, in a recent study, Row Fogo researchers linked specific blood biomarkers to subtle brain damage, impaired vascular function, and cognitive decline in patients at risk of SVD. By combining detailed brain imaging, cognitive testing, and blood analysis, we are uncovering how dysfunction in the brain’s smallest vessels drives long-term neurological harm. Learn more: Blood biomarkers offer new clues to stroke and dementia risk.

Another research project is Rates, Risks and Routes to Reduce Vascular Dementia (R4VaD), a UK-wide observational study of risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia after all types of stroke, funded by the Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation as part of their Priority Programme in Vascular Dementia, as well as the Alzheimer’s Society and Dementias Platform UK.

As Research Fellow Dr Ellen Backhouse says, “I hope the research provides understanding about why certain groups of individuals develop issues with memory and thinking after stroke, how to identify these patients, and gain insight into recovery pathways. This information could then be used to inform preventative management and treatment for conditions such as dementia after stroke.”

Access to Care and Disability Management: 

The Row Fogo Centre believes that everyone should have equal access to prevention, regardless of where they live or what they earn. After all, SVD affects people from all backgrounds, yet geographic or socioeconomic barriers often limit who benefits from prevention and treatment. To this end, our research includes diverse UK-wide and international populations, and we also focus on certain scalable tools (such as MRI algorithms and blood pressure-based interventions) that can be adapted across health systems.

Our research also aims to improve outcomes for people living with SVD. In a recent study, for example, Row Fogo researchers found that some brain damage caused by SVD—specifically white matter hyperintensities (WMH)—can partially reverse. This regression is linked to better cognitive outcomes after stroke. These findings offer new hope for slowing or even reversing cognitive decline through targeted interventions. As we work to translate this research into clinical practice, our goal is to ensure that all individuals affected by SVD have access to high-quality care and support that helps preserve independence, cognitive function, and quality of life. Learn more: Brain Changes Linked to Cognitive Decline and Recovery in Stroke Patients

Advocacy: 

SVD is a leading cause of stroke and vascular dementia. Though SVD affects many people as they age, it often remains undiagnosed until brain scans reveal its silent but damaging progression. Through advanced imaging, collaborative clinical trials, and pioneering data tools, research at the Row Fogo Centre is driving real-world impact. We advocate for earlier detection, better treatments, and improved support for individuals and families affected by SVD. Our public engagement efforts make brain health knowledge accessible and actionable. Ultimately, the Row Fogo Centre helps to shape future brain health research by influencing policy, curricula, and best practices. 

LACI-3: Advancing Hope for Brain Health

The Row Fogo Centre’s LACI-3 trial marks a major step forward in tackling SVD. Building on earlier trials that showed two vascular drugs, cilostazol and isosorbide mononitrate, were safe after lacunar stroke, LACI-3 will test whether they can prevent further brain damage, protect thinking and memory, and reduce the risk of recurrent strokes. This pioneering trial speaks directly to the five key messages of World Brain Day:

• Awareness: Raising global attention to cerebral small vessel disease—a hidden but common cause of stroke and dementia.
• Education: Sharing the science behind how existing drugs might protect the brain’s small vessels.
• Prevention: Exploring new ways to stop SVD from progressing, aiming to prevent recurrent strokes and cognitive decline.
• Access to Care: Testing affordable, widely available medications that could offer real-world solutions for patients everywhere.
• Advocacy: Championing the need for research that targets often-overlooked causes of disability and promotes healthier brain ageing.

Learn more about LACI-3 here. 

The five goals highlighted by World Brain Day—awareness, education, prevention, access to care, and advocacy—reflect the Row Fogo Centre’s commitment to improving brain health. By advancing research, empowering communities, and shaping policy, we are working toward a future where stroke and dementia are not only treatable, but preventable in the first place.

Learn more about World Brain Day here. You can read more about research at the Row Fogo Centre here.