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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Digital Biomarkers and AI for Optimal Diagnosis, Treatment, and Decision-Making
Associate Professor Johan Verjans is a clinician-scientist with a strong focus on cross-disciplinary translational research. In his role as Deputy Director at the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)—one of the world’s premier machine learning institutes, with over 200 researchers—and as Group Leader of Artificial Intelligence at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), he integrates his expertise in molecular medicine, clinical research, and advanced imaging with machine learning applications. This unique combination enables him to drive the translation of cutting-edge AI research into practical medical applications. He works with global teams from multinationals on AI problems.
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Oral administration of insulin for Type 1 Diabetes
Huiwen Pang is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, focusing on biomedical health research. Prior to commencing his PhD, Huiwen studied animal genetics in his Masters degree at Huazhong Agriculture University in China.
People with diabetes, especially Type 1 diabetes, largely rely on the insulin injections or insulin pumps to control their high blood glucose levels, which is painful and has a high risk of infections.
Huiwen Pang is conducting research on nano-based drug formulations for Type 1 diabetes treatment, with a focus on using nanomaterials to load insulin for oral administration and employing anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory approaches to mitigate damage to beta cells.
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Patient reported outcomes in the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma
Dr. Elizabeth Goodall (BMedSci Hons, MBBS Hons, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD student and early career researcher with La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), and Haematologist at Austin Health and Monash Health, Melbourne.
Her specific interest in how patients experience their illness and treatment forms the basis for her research in improving patient outcomes. This research comes at a pivotal time in modern lymphoma management with an ever-increasing number of treatment options available and renewed focus on each patient’s journey.
