H. Chertkow Expression of Interest for CCNA

The neurodegenerative brain diseases (NDD)- Alzheimers Disease (AD) and other dementias in particular - will be the diseases of the 21st century due to aging of our population. The decision to establish a Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration and Aging (CCNA) represents a timely response to this urgent health problem. Our Expression of Interest (EOI) to establish the CCNA includes 37 principal applicants (9 are junior researchers), and 285 other members of the Canadian dementia research community grouped into 20 research teams and supported by seven new national platforms. Virtually every highly published dementia researcher in Canada is part of this submission. The 37 Principal Applicants include 4 from B.C., 5 from Alberta, 1 from Saskatchewan, 13 from Ontario, 11 from Québec, and 3 from Nova Scotia. Our mission can be summarized as follows: to create teams that will do transformative research, advancing our understanding of the biology, natural history, clinical presentation and management of AD and other NDD. We will create a novel cohesive clinical research infrastructure in Canada. We will catalyse development of new molecules and therapies, which can be tested in appropriate patient groups we will establish within the CCNA, to lead to new treatments and approaches to prevent the disease through delaying its onset. Such efforts will be complemented by Teams seeking to advance care of affected individuals and their families through better training of caregivers, use of new technologies at home, and assessing specific functional challenges such as driving. The approach of this consortium will also focus on the unique needs of rural and indigenous communities. Our Teams will be national, rather than local or regional, and will promote the active engagement of junior researchers, building the next generation of dementia researchers. We will also establish a committee to address the ethical, legal and social issues pertaining to research on dementia.