Grab a Cuppa and Zoom in with us and Dr Tamlyn Watermeyer: Improving memory and thinking tests for people with Down’s syndrome
When: Friday 13th June
Time: 12.30-1.30pm
Online via Zoom
Dr Tamlyn Watermeyer is a Cognitive Neuropsychologist — this means she is interested in how the brain supports memory and thinking abilities. Her work focuses on understanding how and why these abilities change over time, especially in people who are at higher risk of developing dementia, like those with Down’s syndrome. She currently holds an NIHR-Alzheimer’s Society Dementia fellowship and is based at Northumbria University at Newcastle and has an honorary fellowship with Edinburgh Dementia Prevention, University of Edinburgh. She will present a summary of her fellowship work aimed at improving access to brain health and dementia research care opportunities in the North of the UK by improving the tests to assess memory and thinking in all ages of people with Down’s syndrome.
As they age, people with Down’s syndrome are at-risk for developing Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia. Despite this, they are often left out of research studies of dementia, in large part because our current tests simply don’t work well enough for this group. The RAD Study (Revolutionising Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment in Down’s syndrome) is about changing that by developing tests of the future. In this project, we’re working with adults with Down’s syndrome (aged 18 years and older) and their caregivers to develop fairer, more accurate ways of detecting early memory and thinking changes linked to Alzheimer’s. We’re testing a new kinds of memory tasks, that are like games and that don’t rely on language or education (a big problem of existing tests), and which have already shown promise in detecting Alzheimer’s much earlier in other groups. Crucially, we’re not just testing what works — we’re asking what works for you? Participants are helping us shape and improve the study itself: what feels accessible, what doesn’t, and how we can make this research more inclusive and empowering for all ages of people with Down’s syndrome. The RAD Study isn’t just about improving science. It’s about shifting who gets seen, heard, and supported when it comes to brain health — and paving the way for future research and care that includes everyone from the very beginning of their brain health journey.