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Dr Ece Bayram
Name:
Dr Ece Bayram
Job Title:
Assistant Professor
Place of work / study:
University of Colorado Denver
Area of Research:
Sex, gender, ethnoracial differences in neurodegenerative diseases
How is your research funded:
National Institute on Aging, Lewy Body Dementia Association
Tell us a little about yourself:
I am an incoming Assistant Professor at Movement Disorders Center, Department of Neurology, University of Colorado Denver with a start date of July, 2024. Born and raised in Adana, Turkey, the city famous for its kebabs. I obtained my M.D. in 2013 and subsequently my Ph.D. in Neurosciences in 2017 from Ankara University, Turkey, and spent one year at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Then two years at University of California San Diego for my postdoctoral fellowship, and then three years as a Project Scientist at University of California San Diego.
I am funded by the National Instutite on Aging K99/R00 award, and a Junior Investigator award from the Lewy Body Dementia Association, and was recently was elected as the Communications Chair for the Lewy Body Dementias Professional Interest Area at ISTAART. In addition, I am also active in the Lewy Body Dementia Association as the last co-chair for the Outreach and Engagement Working Group, and in the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society as the Young Members Group Steering Committee Chair in addition to other committee and leadership roles.
I am committed to research, education and outreach to advance the field of neurodegenerative Parkinsonian diseases, to raise awareness and to support the community. My current research is focused on sex, gender, ethnic and racial differences in neurodegenerative Parkinsonian diseases.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
Big Star Wars fan and I always include Star Wars memes and gifs in my talks. I started sneaking small memes to my posters as well.
Why did you choose to work in dementia research?
It wasn’t by choice in the beginning, I wanted to work with specific mentors and they were focused on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Working closely with the Parkinsonian community made me develop connections with people in the community and I felt safe, welcomed and cared for by them, as I got more and more attached to the field and the community. Then I realized how little research was available in Lewy body dementia, and once I started working in this field, I saw how welcoming everyone was including the most influential seniors and I felt I found a home as a researcher.
What single piece of advice would you give to an early career researcher?
Your path does not have to be traditional and there is always room for you in the field as long as you are committed and true to yourself.
What book are you reading right now? Would you recommend it?
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevski. I like dark stories and I enjoy getting lost in the writing instead of the story itself. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys the unorganized raw thoughts floating around.
Favourite ways to unplug and unwind?
I’m a shameless fan of reality tv, seeing other people fight over not so important things really ease my anxiety somehow.
Favourite film of all time?
La Grande Bellezza by Paolo Sorrentino
Dr Yvonne Couch
Fascinating podcast thank you for sharing. I’m not in academia, but have been studying people for almost 20 years in my tea room. I ended up writing a paper in relation to tea consumption which was published by Routledge The Hand Book of Tea Tourism. Ancestry findings & my own father developing Alzheimer’s has led my own personal research on minimising dementia risk, & subsequently reading Tattoo on my Brain has led me to listen to yours and other podcasts and I’m hearing over and over again, lack of engaging the community & funding and even an emergence study of the link with what we eat (and should be drink), menopause too which has huge effects on health after talking to my customers.
I see the new concept Zoe program using their app and studying diet but it’s expensive so results will be scewed to affluent population. Losing Dr Mosely recently who could engage with normal people and someone I’d tried to reach, was and is a disaster for public health. I see it that people are willing to get involved but equally it sounds like you need an app concept, funding & definitely a spokesperson who can engage with the population which is what I’m thinking about ….who??? How??? I retire from my tea room business on 1st September and this is something I want to look at going forward.
Great work everyone….definitely include diet in your research I’m sure you’ll find it is the source of a lot of the issues.