Research Team
The people behind hVMC
The Hybrid Virtual Memory Clinic brings together clinicians, researchers and health service partners working to improve access to specialist memory assessment and dementia support.
Chief investigators
Professor Sharon Naismith
Sharon holds the Leonard P Ullman Chair in Psychology and heads the Healthy Brain Ageing Program at the Brain and Mind Research Institute, The University of Sydney.
Professor Lee-Fay Low
Lee-Fay is a Professor in Ageing Health within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney.
Professor Susan Kurrle
Sue holds the Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People at The University of Sydney and serves as Clinical Director of Aged Care and Rehabilitation for Northern Sydney Local Health District. She is also President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine and a Geriatrician.
Professor Henry Brodaty
Henry is Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health at UNSW Sydney and Director of Aged Care Psychiatry at Prince of Wales Hospital.
Professor Constance "Dimity" Pond
Dimity is Professor of General Practice at The University of Newcastle and a general practitioner with expertise in dementia care, ageing, and primary care for older adults.
Professor Kate Laver
Kate is Professor of Occupational Therapy at Flinders University with expertise in dementia care, rehabilitation, and healthy ageing.
Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh
Maria is Professor of Medicine at The University of Sydney and an international leader in exercise, frailty, and healthy ageing research.
Dr Inga Mehrani
Inga is a Senior Policy Officer for the Aged Care Unit at the NSW Ministry of Health.
Professor Christopher Rowe
Chris is a Professor of Molecular Imaging at The University of Melbourne and is the director and co-foundern of the Australian Dementia Network.
Dr Jesse Zanker
Jesse is a clinician-researcher focused on geriatric medicine, frailty, and healthy ageing in regional and remote settings.
Associate Professor Michelle Cunich
Michelle is an Associate Professor of Health Economics at Macquarie University with expertise in health services and economic evaluation.
Dr Wen-Qiang He
Wen is a researcher at The University of Sydney with interests in ageing, dementia, and digital health technologies.
Professor Susannah Ahern
Susannah is Professor of Health Systems and Implementation Science at The University of Sydney with expertise in healthcare implementation and evaluation.
Imelda Gilmore
Imelda is a Consumer Advisor and a Dementia Advocate with Dementia Australia.
Dr Matthew Paradise
Matthew is a psychiatrist and researcher with expertise in older persons’ mental health and dementia care.
Associate investigators
Professor Natasha Nassar
Natasha is a Professor of Paedaitric and Perinatal Epidemiology, the Financial Markets Foundation for Children Chair in Translational Childhood Medicine at the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW) Clinical School; and the Data Lead of the Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data at The University of Sydney.
Dr Kannan Natarajan
Kannan is a well-known geriatrician in Brisbane, QLD with special interest in diagnosis and management of cognitive impairment and rehabilitation.
Dr Stephanie Daly
Stephanie is a GP with a special interest in dementia at Dementia Training Australia and coordinator of the RACGP Specific Interests Dementia sub-group.
Dr Jurgen Fripp
Jurgen leads the CSIROs Image Analysis team at the Australian eHealth Research Centre, conducting research into image analysis algorithms for applications in Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT).
Dr Lisa Vaccaro
Lisa is a Lecturer and Research Health Psychologist at The University of Sydney, with expertise in Health Psychology, Psycho-oncology, Pain Management, and Anxiety Disorders
Dr Catriona Ireland
Catriona is a Geriatrician and the Clinic Lead at the Healthy Brain Ageing Clinic, The University of Sydney.
Dr Alex Bahar-Fuchs
Alex is a clinician-researcher trained as a clinical neuropsychologist and specialise in the field of cognitive ageing at Deakin University.
Associate Professor Elie Matar
Elie is an Australian-trained neurologist, sleep physician, and NHMRC funded clinician-scientist at The University of Sydney and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.
Kasey Wallis
Kasey is a Program Manager at the Australian Dementia Network.