Co-Directors’ Report 2021 was another unpredictable year, providing a variety of challenges for us all. Undaunted by microbial threats and movement restrictions, the CHeBA staff and students inspired us with their drive to create new opportunities, and support each other through several activities that kept us socially connected, including the CHeBA Lockdown Challenge which took us virtually from London to the foothills of the Himalayas. As a group, we recognise that people with dementia are more vulnerable to COVID with higher risks of serious illness and death. We know that dementia takes no heed of a pandemic, which helped harness our attention on finding ways to counter the challenges and to ensure our research continued. 2021 marked the ninth anniversary of CHeBA, with some more extraordinary achievements: a $3 million National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Grant awarded to Professor Perminder Sachdev to fund the establishment of the Centre for Research Excellence for Vascular Contributions to Dementia; a prestigious NHMRC Investigator Grant awarded to Dr Nady Braidy to develop a new strategy to improve cognition and quality of life for people living with cognitive impairment and dementia; the launch of a number of new studies and significant projects including Dementias Platform AU, Rethink My Drink, Older Australian Twins Study Online and Forward With Dementia; continuing significant success in research output across two major CHeBA-led consortia – STROKOG and COSMIC. We were humbled by the commitment made by KPMG to continue its support as an in-kind partner of The Dementia Momentum and were fortunate to hold an event for our donors and Wipeout Dementia supporters in June at their offices – chaired by Senior Partner Eileen Hoggett. We thank Spokesman for The Dementia Momentum, Richard Grellman AM, who led the launch of the CHeBA Change Makers initiative with Ambassadors Mr PJ Lane, Mr Ed Caser and Ms Keri Kitay, and whose unwavering dedication to CHeBA has seen this initiative continue to expand and remain a major philanthropic driver for CHeBA’s research.
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The COVID pandemic has demonstrated what international collaboration, strategic public and private funding, and the concentration of scientific minds can achieve to meet a global health challenge. Let us apply these lessons to defeat the dementia pandemic. Professor Henry Brodaty AO & Professor Perminder Sachdev AM We extend our thanks to all our donors who have supported us in an uncertain time, notably Montefiore, the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, the John Holden Family Foundation, the Sachdev Foundation, the Mostyn Family Foundation and the Idle Acres Foundation. We are also very grateful to all our community supporters who donated to CHeBA staff and students through the Lockdown Challenge, and the commitment from those members who ran the Virtual Blackmores Sydney Running Festival and raised funds for The Dementia Momentum.
This enduring support from an engaged community has ensured that CHeBA continues to expand its critical research in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, as well as healthy ageing. We gratefully acknowledge our colleagues and other supporters for their enthusiastic connection to CHeBA, without which our work would not occur. Our highly skilled group of researchers continue to provide new insights into brain ageing and we thank them for their devotion to a valuable research cause. We would also like to thank our highly committed Centre Manager, Angie Russell and the research support team at CHeBA, as well as congratulate Heidi Douglass on receiving the 2021 UNSW Values in Action Award for Innovation.
