Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel (MSAP) meeting

During the 60-minute meeting, the advisory panel discussed ADI's activities over the last year, as well as proposals for future avenues of research, including a working group to explore the impact of COVID-19 as a potential risk factor for accelerating dementia.

Members of ADI’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel (MSAP) gathered for a virtual meeting on 15 April, led by the group’s Chair, Dr Alireza Atri.

ADI CEO Paola Barbarino provided an extensive update on ADI’s activities throughout 2020, particularly around ADI’s response to COVID-19 and the impact that the pandemic has had on members and those we support.

Paola also provided an overview for ADI’s Strategic plan 2019-2022, where she discussed the forthcoming ‘From Plan to Impact’ report. On the report, Paola said:

As it stands, ‘From Plan to Impact’ is the only source of information on how governments are progressing their dementia plans – and the only source of information that is updated constantly.

Wendy Weidner, Research and Policy Project lead, updated the MSAP on ADI’s growing research portfolio and thanked key members of the group for their advice and expertise in supporting our webinars, thought pieces and position papers published during the pandemic.

In closing remarks, Wendy said: “The MSAP has been instrumental in helping us with some of our position papers around COVID-19 and have provided a great contribution to our thought pieces and our position statements, and we can’t thank you enough for that.”

ADI Partnerships Manager, Rosie Houghton, then went on to explain our corporate partnership program and appealed to the MSAP for their advice on technical aspects and possible due diligence support in future.

The meeting then opened to discussion, with many expressing an interest in forming a working group to explore the impact of COVID-19, especially as a potential risk factor for accelerating dementia. Dr Maryam Noroozian shared some insights from research she has been doing on the impact of telemedicine during the pandemic, while Dr Piero Antuono’s faculty in the USA has set up a long-term COVID clinic and he offered to share information to harmonise data.

Dr Serge Gauthier shared that McGill University will be working with ADI on the upcoming World Alzheimer Report 2021 on the ‘Journey through the diagnosis of dementia’.  As part of this research, there will be a series of surveys and he appealed to colleagues to complete the clinician survey – and to share the other surveys widely, including one for people living with dementia and their families.

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