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.

The award is given annually to one junior trainee in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who exemplifies 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 2024-25 academic year. Funds ($2400) will be paid in one lump sum. 

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

Apply

The application deadline for 2023 has passed. Thank you to everyone for their submissions. 

If you have any questions, please contact the TDRA at tdra@utoronto.ca

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.