Dementia - Faith, Communication & Primary Progressive Aphasia

Recorded at the Dementia Research Charity #Chatathon 2022 - Adam Smith interviews Dr Anna Volkmer, Senior Research Fellow & Speech and Language Therapist at University College London, Dr Katherine Britt, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Pennsylvania and Professor Cindy Weinstein, GBHI Fellow and Eli & Edythe Professor of English, Caltech, USA.

Dr Anna Volkmer - I am interested a speech and language therapist who has specialised in working with people with dementia and their families. My research focuses on developing speech and language interventions for people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and other dementias (inc Alzheimer's disease). I am passionate about conversation and supporting people and their families to be able interact "better". This also includes exploring how we measure what is important to people living with PPA and dementia and their families.

Dr Katherine Carroll Britt - I recently graduated with my PhD from The University of Texas. My work focuses on the utilisation of religion and spirituality for coping during stress and illness and how religious and spiritual practices impact mental and physical health, mainly in older adults including those with cognitive impairment, dementia, and their caregivers. My most recent work looks at associations of religious service attendance and frequency of private prayer with neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognitive function, and sleep disturbances in dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment. I aim to identify protective factors and create nonpharmacologic interventions to slow disease progression and to improve well-being and quality of life in dementia.

Professor Cindy Weinstein - I am an English professor at the California Institute of Technology and an Atlantic Fellow, who studied neurology at the Global Brain Health Institute at UCSF. While there, Dr. Bruce Miller and I wrote a book, Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain ( https://bit.ly/3uBO8Ju ), which was published last year by Johns Hopkins University. It is about my father's early onset Alzheimer's, and is told from my perspective as a daughter/English professor and Dr. Miller's as a son/neurologist.

--

The 2022 Dementia Research Charity Chatathon LIVE was held on Friday 2nd December - A non-stop 12.5 hours livestream hosted by Adam Smith interviewing 68 Dementia Researchers and Special Guests working across all areas of discovery to beat Alzheimer's disease and all forms of dementia. Raising money for research and providing insights into the latest research taking place across the UK and Worldwide.

This year we are raising money for four amazing charities who all fund research - Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society, Race Against Dementia and The Lewy Body Society.

For more information and to donate visit http://www.chatathon.uk