Sandra E. Black Award in Clinical Dementia Research

Description

The Sandra E. Black Award in Clinical Dementia Research is awarded annually to a trainee in the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine conducting clinical dementia research at a Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) site. The award is to recognize the trainee’s contributions to an innovative research project.

Established in 2012, the TDRA is a collaboration among the University of Toronto, Baycrest, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Unity Health Toronto (UHT), and the University Health Network (UHN). TDRA is working together to better understand, prevent and treat dementia by creating a stronger link between basic science and clinical research, embedding research into care, improving outreach and education to the community, and increasing the efficiency of collaborative research processes across the city.

Please submit the application package in PDF format via email to TDRA at tdra@utoronto.ca, by 4:00pm Eastern Time on Friday, September 20, 2024

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Guidelines:

The award is given annually to one junior trainee in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who exemplify outstanding achievement in clinical dementia research

Applicants must be nominated by their Research Supervisor and Department Chair where they will conduct their research, which includes letters of support explaining the reason for the nomination and how the candidate demonstrated excellence in clinical dementia research

All applicants are rated by a review committee and the top ranked applicant will be granted the award

The funding awarded is for future research to be completed during the 2025-26 academic year. Funds will be paid in one lump sum.

Please submit the application package in PDF format via email to TDRA at tdra@utoronto.ca.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for the Sandra E. Black Award in Clinical Dementia Research, applicants must comply with the following criteria:

Be a junior research trainee (graduate student, medical student, or resident) in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto
Be conducting research aimed at the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation in the field of dementia, with multi-disciplinary research given priority
Be a trainee at one of the TDRA partner sites (i.e., Baycrest, CAMH, Ontario Shores, Sunnybrook, UHT or UHN)

Application form is here.

The deadline for submission of application packages to the TDRA is 4:00pm Eastern Time on Friday, September 20, 2024. If you have any questions, please contact the TDRA at tdra@utoronto.ca.

Submission Checklist:

Please send the following documents as PDFs:

Application Form completed and signed
Applicant’s up-to-date Curriculum Vitae (CV)
One letter of support from your Department Chair (University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine)
One letter of support from your Research Supervisor

Past Award Recipients

2023

Recipient Madeline Wood Alexander (Sunnybrook)
Madeline is a PhD student working under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Rabin at Sunnybrook Research Institute. Her doctoral research involves investigating how age at menopause and vascular risk together influence cognition and Alzheimer’s disease brain pathology in postmenopausal women of South Asian, Chinese, and White ethnicity. She will also examine whether history of hormone therapy mitigates the negative effects of earlier menopause and elevated vascular risk to protect against poor cognitive performance and AD pathology.

2022

Recipient: Durjoy Lahiri (Baycrest/Rotman)

Durjoy was a clinical fellow in cognitive and behavioral neurology under the supervision of Dr. Howard Chertkow at Baycrest/Rotman Research Institute. His research involved investigating amyloid negative and positive individuals and their clinical trajectory, neuroimaging features, and novel blood-based biomarkers. He was also working on neuromodulation therapy in people living with degenerative aphasias.

After completing his fellowship, Durjoy is currently working as a Cognitive Neurologist at the Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata in India.

2021

Recipient: Veronica Vuong (Baycrest)

Veronica is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She is also part of the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience (CPIN) at the University of Toronto. In her clinical research, Veronica is investigating how music listening can improve memory in people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia. Her research is at Baycrest under Dr. Claude Alain.