BRAIN AGEING, DEMENTIA AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
Professor Perminder S. Sachdev AM, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRANZCP, FAAHMS, Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, UNSW Sydney & Co-director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW Sydney & Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia & Co-Director of the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) & Director of the Centre for Research Excellence in Vascular Contributions to Dementia (CRE VCD)
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | May 2026
Professor Perminder Sachdev graduated from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in 1978 and completed his MD in Psychiatry there in 1983. Following time in New Zealand, he relocated to Australia, where he completed psychiatric training and a PhD at UNSW in 1991. His doctoral work examined ethnopsychological concepts in Māori culture. His early research focused on drug-induced movement disorders, including akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, while his later work has centred on dementia and pre-dementia syndromes, particularly neuroimaging, biomarkers and risk factors.
Professor Sachdev has held numerous leadership roles, including membership of the DSM-5 Neurocognitive Disorders Work Group, President of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology, and leadership positions within VASCOG, the International Neuropsychiatric Association, and the RANZCP Neuropsychiatry Section. He has also contributed extensively to Alzheimer’s Australia and Tourette syndrome advocacy.
His research interests span neuropsychiatric disorders of ageing, vascular and Alzheimer’s dementia, mild cognitive impairment, brain stimulation therapies, neuroimaging, Tourette syndrome and adult ADHD. In 2012, he co-founded CHeBA and leads major longitudinal studies, including the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study, alongside international consortia such as COSMIC, STROKOG and ICC-Dementia.
His achievements have been widely recognised, including appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia (2011), Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015), and recipient of the Ryman Prize (2022) for contributions to ageing research. He has also received the Lishman Oration Award (2024) and a Lifetime Achievement Award (2025).
Professor Sachdev has authored over 1,000 journal articles, multiple books, and a book of poetry.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3421-4176
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Systems genetics to determine risk of developing diabetes complications
Dr Mara Zeissig is a recently appointed Lab Head within the Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy Program at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI).
Her research focuses on studying immune evasion mechanisms in lung and pancreatic cancers to identify novel ways to increase response to immunotherapy. Her expertise is in genetically engineered mouse models of lung cancer, CRISPR-Cas9 screening technologies and T cell based immunotherapies (e.g Checkpoint inhibitors). -
Post stroke brain recovery targeting blood flow and vessel health
Dr Daniel Beard is a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader of the Neurovascular Research Laboratory at the University of Newcastle, with a distinguished career in stroke research. Dr Beard completed his PhD in Human Physiology in 2015, uncovering the impact of intracranial pressure on collateral vessel failure. He has held prestigious research and teaching roles at the University of Oxford and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, contributing to international collaborations on neurovascular protection. His research has been supported by competitive grants, including an NHMRC Ideas Grant, and he has received numerous awards for innovation, research excellence and teaching excellence.
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RESEARCH IMPACT SAHMRI, SOUTH AUSTRALIA (2023)
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, also known as SAHMRI has had significant impacts in various areas over the past ten years, and this year is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a week of events.
Ahead of the anniversary, Executive Director, Professor Maria Makrides spoke to Bench Side Story about 3 achievements in the past 10 years that have had significant impact
