Mentor: Dr. Nicole Anderson
Professor
Project Description
The Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness is the world’s first research-driven community centre providing personalized dementia risk reduction programming. Participants (aged 50+, without dementia, and sufficiently fluent in English) receive a comprehensive dementia risk assessment, and from that, a Personalized Program Strategy to follow in the Centre, addressing up to five modifiable dementia risk factors: physical activity, brain-healthy eating, cognitive engagement, social connections, and mental wellbeing. Cognition and dementia risk are assessed every six months, and the comprehensive assessment is repeated annually. We expect lifestyle dementia risk to decrease, health factors related to that risk (e.g., blood sugars and pressure) to improve, and cognition to improve, to the extent that participants adhere to their Personalized Program Strategy. The SROP student will assist with various aspects of the study, and if a USRA (summer fellowship) is obtained, will carve out their own study to run!
Mentorship Statement
What thrills me more than anything as a mentor is a passion for research, and I strive to do everything I can to cultivate and support that passion in my trainees. As part of this project, you will attend Kimel Family Centre research meetings and my lab meetings. Learning opportunities will also be offered by the Rotman Research Institute’s Research Training Centre. I, along with my postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Danielle D’Amico, and Research Lead, Brian Tan will help you set up in the REDCap data capturing tool, and with data analysis in SPSS and/or R. I have joined this program because my goal for the Kimel Family Centre is for it to be equitable, accessible, and relevant for all, with a diverse membership, as well as a diverse staff and trainee cohort to support it.