About the Centre

The Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) is a premier research institution in Australia, investigating brain ageing. CHeBA was established within the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW Sydney in October 2012. It is headed by internationally acclaimed leaders in the field, Professor Henry Brodaty AO and Professor Perminder Sachdev AM.

Our Vision

Our vision is to achieve, through research, healthier brain ageing and better clinical care of age-related brain diseases.

Our Mission

Our mission is to conduct innovative research and provide the empirical basis to prevent and treat dementia and achieve healthy brain ageing for all Australians.

Our Aims

The Centre aims to conduct multidisciplinary research into ageing in health and disease and be involved in knowledge dissemination and translational research. The Centre focuses in particular on the following aims: ƒ Determine the pathways of normal and abnormal brain ageing in the community. ƒ Identify risk factors for and protective factors against abnormal brain ageing. ƒ Develop strategies for prevention of cognitive decline with ageing. ƒ Promote global collaborations to develop knowledge and further research into brain ageing. ƒ Understand the behavioural as well as the cognitive and functional manifestations of brain ageing. ƒ Translate relevant research findings into practice. ƒ Determine the prevalence of age-related neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular disorders. ƒ Identify biomarkers for brain disorders. ƒ Investigate the pathophysiology of brain diseases so that novel treatments can be discovered. ƒ Conduct treatment trials of novel drugs and nonpharmacological strategies. ƒ Conduct educational activities for a workforce involved in the care of the elderly, especially those with dementia. ƒ Design models of assessment and care using the latest research evidence. ƒ Develop research programs in special populations, e.g. young-onset dementia, dementia in intellectual disability.

Our Functions & Goals

ƒ Build capacity and research capability for agerelated research, in particular brain research. ƒ Support the development and sharing of infrastructure for research across different

Schools and Faculties of UNSW. ƒ Build relationships between the Centre and other similar centres in Australia and overseas. ƒ Build relationships between the Centre and the industry involved in the treatment and care of the elderly.

This will be achieved through:

ƒ Strengthened collaborative research programs among staff and partners locally, nationally and internationally, supported by increased peerreviewed grants and commissioned research. ƒ Development of specialised research facilities and laboratories that place the Centre at the forefront of brain ageing research nationally and internationally, to achieve the highest quality research and advance the Centre’s attractiveness to prospective researchers of excellence. ƒ Extensive linkages with practitioners and policy makers at local, state and national levels to improve relevance and impact of research. ƒ Increased numbers and quality of skilled researchers undertaking research and evaluation activities in this field. ƒ Enhancing numbers of post graduate research students. ƒ Exercising enhanced influence via dissemination and transfer of research findings through publications, presentations and forums with a focus on academic, practitioner and policy maker audiences.

Research Highlights

“Our goal is to make a major impact on the societal burden due to dementia and related disorders.”

Professor Perminder Sachdev AM & Professor Henry Brodaty AO