Exeter’s world-leading dementia research will soon be showcased in New York

Exeter dementia research showcased in New York

Exeter’s world-leading dementia research will soon be showcased at a special event in New York. 

Professor Clive Ballard, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the University of Exeter Medical School, will present the free Global Conversation public lecture, entitled 'Can we prevent Dementia? Will we cure it?’. It will take place on March 5 at the British Consulate General at 18:00 and anyone with a professional or personal interest in the subject is welcome to attend. 

Professor Ballard said: “More than 40 million worldwide have dementia and our ageing population means this is set to double over the next 25 years.  Dementia is the leading health fear for older adults. However, recent evidence from our 2017 Lancet Commission concludes that dementia could be prevented or delayed significantly in more a third of people by effectively tackling lifestyle factors including physical exercise, diet, weight and social isolation.”

Professor Ballard will discuss his innovative PROTECT online platform, which has more than 25,000 people aged 50 or over signed up. It enables researchers to find out much more about the ageing brain, and to conduct low-cost and robust trials on lifestyle and genetics on how to keep our brains sharp.

Professor Ballard said: “There is also a massive and urgent unmet treatment need. Current treatments improve symptoms slightly but they don’t tackle the core disease. We need better design of clinical trials. There are less than 50 drugs or biological treatments in clinical trials for people with Alzheimer’s disease ongoing, compared to up to 4,000 for cancer. We must double the number of dementia trials, identify more good quality candidates and improve clinical trial designs if are to find innovative solutions to develop disease modifying treatments dementia and to tackle this urgent global health challenge.”

The presentation will outline an exciting new approach to clinical trials, and share information about some exciting new candidate treatments.

Professor Ballard will highlight Exeter’s pioneering research in this field and guests will also have the opportunity to pose questions.

This event is free-of-charge and people can book via the online booking form. For more information please visit the website.

To find out more about dementia research at Exeter, visit the website, or follow @Clive_Ballard or #ExeterDementia on Twitter.

Date: 23 January 2018