Prof Craig Ritchie
Craig is the CEO and Founder of Scottish Brain Sciences, as well as honorary chair of Psychiatry of Ageing and Director of the Centre for Dementia Prevention at the University of Edinburgh; previously Chair of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium and Associate Director of the Edinburgh Wellcome Trust clinical research facility. He graduated from Aberdeen Medical School in 1991, gained a Masters in Epidemiology in 2002, and a PhD in Mental Health from University College London in 2006.
Mark Cook
Mark is Co-chair of the Scottish Life Sciences Industry Leadership Group. He spent nearly 20 years in the health technologies and medicines sector, including as chairman of the board of a Scottish speciality pharma company, which he successfully transformed and prepared for onward sale. Mark is Chairman of the Teachers’ Board of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency.
Prof John Harrison
John is an acknowledged cognition expert whose main professional interest is in helping people understand, maintain, and enhance their cognitive skills. In the past 25 years, he has assisted more than 80 CNS drug development organisations with the selection and successful integration of cognitive testing into therapeutic development programs. He is an Associate Professor with the AUmc Alzheimer Center and Visiting Professor at King’s College London. He holds Chartered Psychologist status and has authored/co-authored more than 100 books and scientific articles.
Dr Alison Green
Alison is a clinical biochemist with over 25 years’ experience in development and evaluation of dementia biomarkers. She is a pioneer of RT-QuIC analysis for the identification of Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Alison has led many international collaborative studies into the value of biomarkers over the last 20 years. She graduated from King’s College, University of London with a degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology and has an MSc from Newcastle University and a PhD from University College London.
Joseph Milne
Joseph is a clinical trials specialist who has worked in laboratory and contract research organisations, and has led a clinical trials team for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Joseph has a degree in Toxicology from Edinburgh Napier University and has been involved in research studies and clinical trials for over a decade.
Dr Sarah Gregory
Sarah comes to us with an MSc from University College London, and a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Edinburgh. She is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in psychology, mental health and dementia clinical trials and large dementia prevention cohort studies. With experience of working in the NHS and academic institutions, she is particularly interested in Patient and Public Involvement work as well as ethical considerations of research, and is an active member of two research ethics committees.
Anna Borthwick
Anna is an engagement specialist, with over 15 years’ experience of leading public engagement and media campaigns within the medical research field. As a former journalist, she joined the University of Edinburgh to lead PR, engagement and fundraising programmes for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Most recently, she led Brain Health Scotland, the world’s first government-sponsored dementia prevention programme, and with her team, developed the first open-access NHS Brain Health Clinic. Anna has been delighted to partner with colleagues in the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative to progress healthcare system preparedness, and is a passionate advocate of women’s brain health research.
Dr Miles Welstead
Miles attended the University of Edinburgh to receive an MSc in Human Cognitive Neuropsychology, and a PhD, which investigated the trajectories of cognitive functioning in later life. He has experience in academia and industry with a background working in clinical trials management, psychometry in a dementia prevention research centre, and as a research psychologist developing new diagnostics for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Miles has a particular interest in improving our ability to accurately identify cognitive and functional change over time.
Science Advisory Team
Prof Jeffrey Cummings
Jeffrey is a world-renowned Alzheimer’s researcher and leader of clinical trials. He is Vice Chair of Research at the University of Nevada Department of Brain Health and Director of its Center for Transformative Neuroscience. Jeffrey is also Founding Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.
Prof Tara Spires-Jones
Tara is Deputy Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences and the Professor of Neurodegeneration at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Spires-Joes is also programme lead of the UK Dementia Research Institute and a founding member of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence focused on advancing European Neuroscience work.
Dr Suzanne Hendrix
Suzanne is CEO of Pentara Corporation, specializing in statistics and data management in neurodegenerative diseases. Under her leadership, Pentara has supported the study design, data collection, and analysis of over 50 clinical trials since 2008.
Prof Frederik Barkhof
Frederik is Professor of Neuroradiology at the VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, with expertise in Structural and Functional MRI techniques and PET imaging in relation to diagnosis and treatment of neurodegeneration. Professor Barkhof is also Chair of Neuroradiology with a focus on Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the Centre for Medical Image Computing at University College London.
Prof Miia Kivipelto
Miia is Professor of Clinical Geriatrics at Karolinska Institutet, Center for Alzheimer Research and senior geriatrician and Director for R&D of Theme Aging at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Professor Kivipelto is an expert in neuroepidemiology, and prevention and early diagnosis of dementia are key focuses in her research.
Board
Non-Executive Directors
Graham McCall
Graham is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Operating at senior Board level within Utilities, FMCG, Environmental and Services Industries. Significant private equity experience spanning over 25 years consisting of successful exit transactions as well as acquisitions and financial restructuring.
Jackie Fielding
Jackie has been in the healthcare industry for around 30 years. For the last 10 years of her time at Medtronic Jackie was Vice President UK/Ireland. She also held external posts including Chair of BCIA and a council member of BCIS. Jackie was elected to sit on the ABHI Board of Directors and later on took the role of Vice Chair at ABHI. She has worked with the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur programme. Jackie now sits on the board of NICE as a Non Exec Director and is Chair of NPC Ltd in Northumbria Healthcare.
Calum Smith
Calum is an investment professional with over 25 years’ experience as a Fund Manager working in global credit and bond markets. He took up a part-time advisory role with the Scottish Government in 2021 contributing to innovation, commercialisation and investment-related policies in the Life Sciences and health innovation sectors. He is currently also a Director of Leith School of Art.
Julia Brown
Julia is an experienced Non-Exec Director and Chairperson supporting young companies working with products / services at the R&D stage, particularly in the healthcare sector. Prior to this she worked for over 20 years in the biopharmaceutical and med tech industry. She worked for 10 years in economic development leading initiatives to develop the High Value Manufacturing and Health sectors in Scotland.
