Our Team
Investigators
Dr Yen Ying Lim is an Associate Professor at the Turner Institute at Monash University and the primary investigator of the BetterBrains Trial and the Healthy Brain Project. She is interested in understanding and integrating the effects of genetic, biological, and lifestyle risk factors on memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease progression.
Dr Anna Barker is the Executive Director, Research & Innovation at Silver Chain, where she is leading the Future Care strategy that will shape how care in the home is delivered in Australia and Internationally. As an experienced health care leader/innovator, clinical researcher and physiotherapist (B.Phty, M.Phty (Geriatrics), PhD), she is passionate about healthy ageing and innovative models to support the health and care experience of older people.
Dr Matthew Pase is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at the Turner Institute at Monash University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Through various local/international initiatives, his research has helped elucidate risk and protective factors for dementia, cerebrovascular disease, and vascular cognitive impairment, particularly with respect to vascular health, sleep, and diet.
Prof Paul Maruff is a neuropsychologist who specializes in understanding how thinking changes as people ger older. Paul also has a company, Cogstate, that works with pharmaceutical companies to help determine the benefits and risks of new drugs that are being developed for the treatment of dementia.
Dr Nawaf Yassi is a Neurologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and joint head of the Watson/Yassi research laboratory at WEHI. He is interested in the assessment and management of patients with stroke and dementia, with a focus on fluid biomarkers to improve the accuracy of dementia diagnoses and novel treatments for dementia.
Dr Darshini Ayton is a public health and health services researcher, a NHMRC emerging leader fellow and has strong expertise in mixed methods research and randomised controlled trials. She is interested in chronic diseases such as dementia, cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as patient-reported outcomes, intervention acceptability in trials, and patient experiences of health care and disease.
Prof Leonid Churilov is Professor of Biostatistics at Melbourne Medical School at the University of Melbourne. He contributes biostatistical, health analytics, and decision modelling expertise to multiple international clinical trials and to a number of smaller pre-clinical, clinical, imaging, and service evaluation studies in the areas of general neurology, stroke and more.
Prof Richard O. Sinnott is Professor of Applied Computing Systems at the University of Melbourne. He has been technical lead on a multitude of large-scale international projects with emphasis on security worth over $500m, including numerous projects in the biomedical domain, such as disease registries, clinical trials and observational studies.
Dr Rachel Buckley is based in Boston, USA, as Faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and is a recipient of a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence award and an Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship. Her training is in neuropsychology (non-clinical track), with her research focus on sex differences in biological markers of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Chris Barton is a senior lecturer in the Department of General Practice at Monash University. He has a background in social epidemiology and his current research has a focus on understanding patient experiences of care, particularly the social and relational aspects of care.
Prof Amy Brodtmann is a cognitive and stroke neurologist. She directs clinical cognitive neurology services at 3 Melbourne hospitals, is Head of Dementia Theme at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and is an Honorary Medical Advisor for Dementia Australia.
Prof Ashley Bush, Director of the Florey’s Melbourne Dementia Research Centre, is a recognized expert in the field of neuroscience, having published 466+ papers and 29 patents. He has made significant contributions to the field, most notably his discovery of the importance of metals and oxidation in neurological disease and psychoses.
Prof Shantha Rajaratnam is Deputy Head of the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and Deputy Director of the Turner Institute at Monash University. He is interested in sleep and circadian medicine, including the role of the internal biological clock in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle, and how clock disruption leads to sleep disorders and other physiological consequences.
Research Team
Dr Emily Rosenich is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on the BetterBrains Trial at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. Emily is interested in exploring how modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors occur in parallel, or interact, to influence cognitive decline and dementia development.
Dr Loren Bruns Jr is a research software engineer in the Melbourne eResearch Group at the University of Melbourne and is the principal software developer on the BetterBrains Trial. He has a background in astrophysics, and his current focus is multiplying research output in the areas of health and psychology through the application of modern software engineering.
Dr Stephanie Pirotta is an accredited practising dietitian and senior clinician within the BetterBrains project. She will be overlooking the clinical application and management of all participants during the trial as well as the clinician team, ensuring that the intervention is delivered correctly, whilst having fun at the same time!
Stephanie Perin is a psychologist working in aged mental health, and a research clinician on the BetterBrains Trial at the Turner Institute at Monash University. She has an interest in dementia risk reduction and understanding the clinical and psychological markers of Alzheimer's disease.
Andrea Mills is a research assistant on the BetterBrains Trial at the Turner Institute at Monash University. She has an interest in using technology to detect change in learning and memory in early Alzheimer’s disease.
Maya Norfolk is a research assistant on the BetterBrains Trial at the Turner Institute at Monash University. She has an interest in investigating the role of biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, and increasing awareness in the general population about the modifiable risk factors for dementia.
Dr Caitlyn Gourlay completed a Bachelor of Science (Degree with Honours) and PhD at the University of Melbourne. She is currently completing her Masters of Clinical Psychology at La Trobe University. Caitlyn is passionate about improving sleep, mental health, and well-being in the community.
Samantha De Araugo is an accredited practising dietitian working in rural health, and a clinician on the BetterBrains trial at Monash University. She has an interest in dementia risk-reduction and person-centred care. She enjoys using a strengths-based approach to promote positive health outcomes for those with chronic disease.
Gabbi Da Costa is a research assistant on the BetterBrains Trial at the Turner Institute at Monash University. Gabbi has an interest in improving mental health, well-being, and understanding the social and psychological effects of dementia.
Melissa Savaglio is a Clinical Psychologist working in youth mental health, and a clinician in the Better Brains project. She is currently completing her PhD at the Health and Social Care Unit, Monash University. Melissa’s thesis is focused on using Intervention Mapping to co-design and develop a community-based psychosocial intervention for youth experiencing mental illness.
Dr Lauren Bruce is a Psychologist and Research Fellow, working in the Health and Social Care Unit, Monash University. Lauren is a clinician on the Better Brains project. She has completed a Doctor of Psychology (Health) and her interests include dementia prevention and care, body image and eating disorders.