Name:
Miguel Vasconcelos Da Silva
Job title:
PhD student / Dementia Theme Manager / Research Nurse
Place of work / study:
King’s College London & University of Exeter
Area of Research:
Apathy in dementia
How is your work funded:
University of Exeter
Tell us a little about yourself:
I qualified in 2009 at the University of Madeira. Worked as a General Nurse in care homes developed my skills in working with older adults and people living with dementia.
At the end of 2010 I started working in the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit at King’s College Hospital, and developed my skills further as a General Nurse, with a specialism in Stroke Care. Completed the Stroke Care Module in 2013. During my experience on the ward, I developed an interest in research, and became involved in ongoing Stroke research. In 2014 started working for the Health and Social Care Research department at King’s College London conducting Stroke Research, where I developed my knowledge and skills as a researcher.
At the end of 2014 started working for the Clinical Trials Team at the Wolfson CARD, King’s College London. In this position, I have contributed to a range of research projects and currently taking on the role as Dementia Theme Manager at the Old Age Psychiatry Department, King’s College London, working on various research projects involving older people living with dementia. Also doing my Phd at the University of Exeter focusing on apathy in Alzheimer’s disease.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I love travel, hiking and baking.
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
I have always had an interest in working with older adults and people living with dementia. Very early on in my career whilst working in care homes I’ve seen the impact that dementia has on individuals and their families. Besides memory problems that are commonly associated with AD people often experience other behavioural symptoms and interestingly apathy is one of the most common. This instigated my interest and led to the development of my PhD project.
