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Dr Miguel Vasconcelos Da Silva
Name:
Dr Miguel Vasconcelos Da Silva
Job title:
Associate Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing
Place of work / study:
King’s College London
Area of Research:
Apathy in dementia
How is your work funded:
University of Exeter
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am currently Associate Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the School of Academic Psychiatry, part of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. I’m also associated with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
After earning my Nursing degree from the University of Madeira, I worked in care homes and later in the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit at King’s College Hospital, where I developed my skills in caring for older adults and people with dementia. My hands-on experience in these settings sparked a strong interest in research, and I became involved in several ongoing studies.
Since 2014, I’ve contributed to numerous research projects at King’s College London, expanding my expertise in dementia research and clinical trials. While I’ve worked across a variety of studies, my main focus is research involving older adults with dementia, particularly those living in care homes. I serve as Co-Director of the Care Home Research Network (CHRN) and have been actively involved in supporting and facilitating research within care home environments.
I’m also part of the Community Ageing Research Across Ethnicities (CARE) Network, where I advocate for research inclusivity, particularly focusing on neuropsychiatric symptoms in older adults, with a special interest in apathy.
In July 2024, I completed my PhD at the University of Exeter, in collaboration with King’s College London. My research focuses on a clinicogenomic examination of apathy and depression in people with dementia and healthy older adults.
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.
