Towards Personalized Brain Health
Description: The Task Force BrainFit4Life represents an informal grassroots movement that includes clinical and preclinical scientists aiming to fill the existing gap between research and clinical routine in the domain of cognitive pathology. Given that the majority of patients seen in Swiss memory clinics suffer from neurodegenerative and cerebro-vascular disorders, we focus on all aspects of preserving brain health in old age. Our Task Force BrainFit4Life aims at increasing the awareness about aging-associated brain disorders in the general population, public health authorities, industry and funding agencies. The Task Force includes more than 70 national and international members active in the field of brain aging research and dementia care. Dementia is a spectrum of neurodegenerative brain disorders with Alzheimer's disease representing the more prevalent form in the aging population. Ageing-associated cognitive decline is a timely topic that should not be underestimated, particularly in the context of steadily increasing longevity of the Swiss population. To date, 19% of the Swiss population is aged 65+ with a number of cantons predicted to have by 2050 more citizens above the age of 65 than younger population. While there is no curative treatment available yet, there is a pressing need to consolidate knowledge, experience and available information across cantonal boundaries to improve prevention, timely diagnosis and outcome prediction. The recent surge in digital health strategies and analytical methods offers unique opportunity to achieve a paradigm shift that would not only provide researchers with real-life high-quality data, but it will also improve clinical care at no additional administrative cost. After the initial phase of informal exchange, we entered a consolidation stage supported by the launched website and twitter channels that requires to further open to the community after thorough discussion of the most pressing needs with different public actors and patients’ organizations. We propose organizing a one day symposium to discuss the three main axes of our campaign for digital health: accessibility of real-life data, digital diagnostics and individualized strategies for brain health preservation. We have confirmations from major figures in the field to report on dementia as a public health priority. The symposium is centered on presentations by 7 national and 5 international speakers, experts in their respective digital health domains. The symposium’s strategy is based on interactive discussions in various panels hosted by local experts. The program is targeting a broad audience of brain scientists, clinicians, public health representatives, industry and representatives of patients’ organizations. The symposium will be open doors and accessible to the lay public. Overall the interactive nature of the symposium will be ideal to consolidate existing contacts and foster new ones, while still represent an excellent opportunity for scientific exchange and knowledge-transfer.
Amount: CHF 6,000
Funding type: grant
Funder scheme: Scientific Exchanges
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Investigator: Alberi, Lavinia
Institution: University of Fribourg – FR
Funded outputs count: 1
Funder award ID: 198310
OpenAlex ID: G3843371238