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 recognizes a trainee's outstanding contributions to an innovative dementia research project. We are not accepting applications for the Sandra E. Black Award at this time.
Apply
We are not accepting applications for the Sandra E. Black Award at this time.
Meet the 2024 Award Recipient
Maurice Pasternak, PhD candidate at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, is the 2024 Sandra E. Black award recipient. Maurice, under the supervision of Dr. Mario Masellis at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, is studying how genetic factors impact brain blood flow and connectivity in people living with genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The project focuses on a gene called TMEM106B, which might protect against brain decline in FTD. Using advanced brain scans (i.e., BOLD-fMRI, ASL MRI, etc.), the team will noninvasively measure brain blood flow and brain connections in people at the early stages of FTD and compare them to healthy family members. This research could help detect brain changes prior to the onset of major symptoms and lead to better ways to track and treat FTD in the future.
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.