The Brain Dialogues

CHeBA’s Blog, The Brain Dialogues, continued to have a strong readership in 2020. The blog covers a variety of aspects of brain health, research and donor impact articles.

This year we launched the CHeBA Meet Our Researcher Series. This fascinating series individually profiles CHeBA’s innovative research team, covering their achievements, research projects and provides insight into why our dedicated academics enjoy working at CHeBA and what motivates them to make a difference through critical brain research.

Follow The Brain Dialogues at https://cheba.unsw.edu.au/content/blog

We have included excerpts from two generous supporters of CHeBA. The full articles can be read in The Brain Dialogues.

Regular Giving – Former Staff Member Continues Support

Dr Karolina Krysinska obtained her PhD in Psychology in 2001 and has since had

a rich career history in research. She is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity at the University of New South Wales.

She is also a CHeBA donor.

Karolina, whose parents are both medical doctors, is originally from the city of Poznań which sits on the Warta River in West Poland. Many years in mental health eventually led Karolina to the Black Dog Institute where she remained focused on suicide prevention. It was during this time that she had the opportunity to meet CHeBA Co-Director Professor Henry Brodaty and not long after took a role with him in the Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration – eventually leading to what she describes as a privilege of observing his clinical work.

Professor Zdzislaw Krysinski, Dr Romana Krysinska and Dr Karolina Krysinska

Professor Krysinski’s challenging journey with the disease had developed into dementia as well as tremors.

A poignant memory for Karolina that helped her retain her strength was advice from Henry, that it is

“comforting to have knowledge.” This advice proved to be Karolina’s push into dementia research.

“It was experiencing Henry’s interaction with his patients that encouraged me to work with people as a psychotherapist,” says Karolina. “He was so exceptionally kind to every individual.” It was during the ensuing year and a half, while working on a scoping study for a national dementia registry in Australia to improve dementia clinical care at the Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, that her father, Professor Zdzislaw Krysinski, declined significantly from Parkinson’s disease. “Witnessing my father’s suffering and seeing how my mother dealt with it with so much love and devotion keeps me motivated to create change for people diagnosed with dementia – and their families.”