ADDI Roundtable – The importance of Diversity in Research

Our Roundtable Series is open to all AD Connect members. Not yet a member? Sign up today.

“The Importance of Diversity in Dementia Research” roundtable will include a moderated discussion with 4 panelists. Our panelists will share their connection to this topic, challenges or barriers they’ve encountered, and answer questions from the audience throughout this event.

For those who are unable to attend, we will post a recording of this event to the ADDI Researcher Roundtable Forum page. However, we encourage you to attend live so that you can ask questions and engage with our panelists.

Agenda:

• Panelist and Moderator Intros (25 minutes)
• Moderated Session (35 minutes)
• Audience Q&A (15 minutes)

Meet the Panelists and Moderator!

Rhoda Au, PhD

Dr. Au is a Professor at Boston University and Director of Neuropsychology for the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and Director of the Global Cohort Development Program for the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. Her work includes cognitive aging and dementia, with a focus on using technologies to develop a customizable, multi-sensory brain health monitoring platform. Her strategic research plan is to transition from reliance on active engagement technologies to low/no engagement ones. She actively supports broad data sharing/accessibility initiatives to accelerate data science/Artificial Intelligence -driven discovery of digital biomarkers, including those that can serve as surrogate indices of fluid and imaging biomarkers and novel disease pathways and treatment solutions.

Dr. Au holds a Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College, a Master of Business Administration from Boston University and a Doctorate from the University California, Riverside.

Sammy Danso, PhD

Dr. Danso is an Honorary Academic Fellow in applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science at Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences. He is also Fellow at the Information Commissioner’s Office of the United Kingdom (UK) where he leads research projects to shape policy on use of AI technologies to drive the UK economy. Prior to his current role, Sammy held several post-doctoral research positions within the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University focusing on application of AI to a variety of problems. He also worked for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Health Service of Ministry of Health in Ghana for over a decade. Dr Danso is also involved in teaching and supervision of MSc and PhD student projects, and a reviewer for numerous academic journals.

He is currently the Principal Investigator on the following projects:

• Examination of drivers of privacy breaches in AI models within the context of Explainable AI and data protection.
• Digital phenotyping to detect early risk factors of dementia in lower-and-middle-income populations to develop novel machine learning approaches that utilise low-cost multi-modal data obtained from a variety of sources, including natural language to detect Brain Health issues and the modifiable risk factors responsible in order to improve the utility of AI technologies globally

His research interest is in application of AI and Big Data technologies to Brain Health research with particular focus on dementia and healthy aging. He is also interested the interaction between privacy of AI models within the context of Explainable AI and data protection.

Dr. Danso holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Leeds; an MSc in Advanced Software Engineering; BSc in Computer Science and a member of the British Computer Society.

Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, PhD

Dr. Ravindranath is a professor at the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. She was the founding director of the National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, founding chair of the Centre for Neuroscience at Indian Institute of Science, and founder director of Center for Brain Research, an autonomous institute created through philanthropy. Dr. Ravindranath has worked at the National Cancer Institute in the United States as a postdoctoral fellow. Later, she joined the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, where she studied the metabolizing capacity of the human brain, focusing especially on psychoactive drugs and environmental toxins. She has also helped the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India to establish National Brain Research Centre to coordinate and network neuroscience research groups in India. She is currently Her main area of interest is the study of brain related disorders including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

She holds a Bachelor and Master of Science from Andhra University and a doctorate in biochemistry from Mysore University.

Kusumadewi (DY) Suharya

Ms. Suharya is the Regional Director of Alzheimer’s Disease International Asia Pacific Region, overseeing activities in 17 countries in the Asia Pacific that aim to improve the quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers. She is also the Founder of Alzheimer Indonesia, a non-governmental organization working to increase dementia and Alzheimer’s awareness and risk reduction in Indonesia. DY, as she’s widely known, has more than 20 years of experience in public health, public private partnerships, and communication. She has worked as a Health Communication Consultant with the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF. In addition to her role at Alzheimer Indonesia, DY works closely with the WHO and Indonesia’s Ministry of Health.

Ms. Suharya holds a Master of Public Health from Curtin University Perth, Australia, a Bachelor of Science from Ohio State University, and a Diploma in English Literature from the University of Indonesia.

Moderator

Alexis Oddi

Ms. Oddi joined the UCSF Memory and Aging Center in January 2021, and is now working jointly under the Yokoyama Lab and Dr. Joanna Hellmuth as a Clinical Research Coordinator. With Dr. Jennifer Yokoyama, Ms. Oddi coordinates the Data Sharing to Promote Collaboration and Discovery in FTD project, funded by the Tau Consortium. She is also the lead research coordinator for the Coronavirus Neurocognitive Study (CNS), which aims to characterize the long-term neuropsychological and neurocognitive effects of COVID-19.

Ms. Oddi is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Data Science with a concentration in Urban Science.  Her specialties include data mapping and visualization, and she is deeply interested in the intersections of neurology, data science, and social justice.