Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia – rhetoric and the evidence base from an epidemiological perspective
This talk will draw on four decades of population-based studies based within communities. It will cover how contemporary rhetoric regarding dementia and its subtypes has, to a substantial degree, become disconnected from the reality of how dementia is experienced in ageing societies. The talk will cover concepts such as prevalence and incidence, risk and protection and how upstream prevention fits with the current narratives of early detection and much publicised potential therapies. It will also cover the challenges of how communities, households and individuals are affected by inequalities and inequities that have far reaching impact across generations.
Carol is Professor Emeritus of Public Health Medicine at the University since 2024, and was Director of the Institute of Public Health, then co-director of the University’s Cambridge Public Health IRC until her retirement. She has led population studies of ageing populations for four decades. These multidisciplinary and multicentre studies have provided understanding of how dementia, frailty, healthy ageing are experienced in communities, providing evidence from policy to biology. She has also been a leader within the public health community in the region and nationally. Her contributions were recognised with a CBE in the Queen’s Honours in 2017, Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences and awards from the Faculty of Public Health.
6-7pm, Wednesday 21 May 2025
