The Future of Dementia in Africa:
Advancing Global Partnerships                                        
                                                                        

Mie Reizig is currently a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Neurology and a Specialist Registrar in Neurology at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on the clinical and genetic diversity of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative conditions among black populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and the African diaspora in the UK. In addition to her research, she collaborates with institutions across several African countries to enhance research standards, educate health professionals, and increase PD awareness among patients, relatives, and communities.

Prior to her current role, she completed a three-year postdoctoral clinical research fellowship under Prof. Nick Wood at the UCL Institute of Neurology, where she recruited and characterized a large cohort of PD patients with the rare LRRK2 gene mutation. During this fellowship, she recognized the significant lack of research involving patients of African descent, including Black Africans and Black Caribbean individuals, which inspired her to launch her current research project.

Dr. Reizig earned her medical degree from the University of Khartoum in Sudan, followed by general medical training at several hospitals in London. She holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in Molecular Genetics from University College London (UCL). Additionally, she obtained a Diploma in Clinical Neurology from the UCL Institute of Neurology.

Chi Udeh-Momoh, PhD, FHEA, is a Translational Neuroscientist specializing in dementia prediction and prevention at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where she leads the Udeh-Momoh Lab for Global Brain Health Equity, focusing on equitable, culturally informed strategies to promote successful aging. She holds a joint appointment at Aga Khan University Kenya as co-Director of the Imarisha Centre for Brain Health and Aging and Lead of the Genomics and Biomarker Core at the Brain and Mind Institute Kenya, collaborating with global experts to enhance neuroscience research and education in the Global South. In 2018, she initiated the AFRICA-FINGERS project to promote healthy aging in African populations through sustainable interventions. Dr. Udeh-Momoh co-leads the World-Wide FINGERS Biomarker Consortium and the Global CEOi/Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, guiding global biomarker harmonization strategies and the implementation of blood-based biomarkers in clinical practice. Her research, funded by major organizations, addresses biopsychosocial determinants of dementia risk and aims to improve brain health equity.

Muthoni Gichu has a passion in empowering individuals and communities to thrive across the lifespan, with a special focus on promoting healthy ageing and reducing the devastating impact of dementia.

With a deep understanding of the complex interplay between public health, economic development, and social policy, I have dedicated my career to driving meaningful change in the lives of older adults, and their caregivers. My work is informed by the latest research and best practices in dementia prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care, as well as the critical importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.

My mission is to champion policies and programs that support the health, wellbeing, and human rights of older adults, while also acknowledging the vital role of caregivers and the broader community in promoting healthy ageing and dementia prevention. I am committed to fostering a society that values, supports, and celebrates the contributions of all individuals, regardless of age or ability.

I acknowledge that healthy ageing is not just a personal aspiration, but a collective responsibility. By working together to create supportive environments, promote healthy lifestyles, and drive innovation in dementia research and care, we can build a brighter future for all.

As Research Professor in the School of Public Health, Wits University, Steve Tollman directs the Medical Research Council / Wits University Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit. While trained in African and US / UK institutions, Steve’s professional life is based in South Africa with extensive efforts building advanced research capability in sub-Saharan African settings.

In the early 1990s, he led establishment of the Agincourt Field Research Centre based on long-term health and socio-demographic surveillance. This provides a longitudinal platform for the SAMRC’s only research group dedicated to rural health and development and the rapid transitions underway. Extensive observational work is complemented by intervention-evaluations addressing key periods along the life course. The empirically-derived mortality and cause-of-death series informs work on chronic conditions and is among the richest on the continent. This, and related surveillance data, offer fresh insight into the complex demographic, epidemiological and social transitions underway.

Steve’s work contributed to the founding of the INDEPTH Network which he served as Board Chair then Principal Scientist. He serves on African, US and UK review panels and is currently chairing 5-year reviews of SAMRC intramural research units. He is an author of some 250 peer-reviewed publications, and in 2018 was honoured by the National Science and Technology Forum.

Akin Ojagbemi is a clinical and academic psychiatrist for older people. He is trained in dementia care at the Institute of Psychiatry (IOPPN) King’s College London and leads a multidisciplinary team with in-patient and out-patient responsibilities for mental health of older adults and dementia care in Nigeria. He also an honorary visiting Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Dementia Studies, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, United Kingdom. Akin’s research background is from being part of participants assessment in the key international comparative study of dementia in Nigeria and Indianapolis USA. He now conducts research in Global mental health, epidemiology, mental health systems strengthening and intervention studies within a long-term commitment to develop culturally appropriate and resource-aligned interventions for priority mental health conditions in Nigeria and applicable contexts in West Africa. To date, he has published more than 100 peer reviewed journal articles, 6 book chapters, and 1 monogram, some of which have appeared in The Lancet, JAMA and World Psychiatry. Akin has been an awardee of the US National Academy of Medicine Grand Challenge on Healthy Longevity. In December 2023, he was awarded the Tomani Corah price for excellence which is held by the African Research Excellence Fund (AREF). He is currently developing an innovative task shared intervention on digital platforms for older peoples’ depression and dementia in Nigeria.

David M. Ndetei is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Nairobi and the Founding Director of the Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health formerly known as the Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation. He also serves as the Director of the World Psychiatric Association Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Kenya. He was the Kenyan PI for an International collaborative project called “Strengthening responses to dementia in developing countries (STRiDE)” and the official mentor of a post-doc on the project in Kenya.  He was the Kenyan PI of Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC) for the Integration and evaluation of a community-level dementia screening program in rural Kenya.  Under his leadership, Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health has become a leading center in the region for mental and brain health research, collaborating with professionals and researchers, and mentorship of students from across the globe. 

His research interests are on community approaches to innovative interventions that are sociocultural and contextually appropriate.  He has been the PI or Co-I for most Kenyan published clinical and community epidemiological studies on mental health and substance abuse.  He is dedicated to advancing psychiatric education and training in Kenya. He has mentored numerous graduate and postgraduate students (Masters, PhDs, DScs, Post-docs).  He was instrumental in the development of various specialized programs at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi. 

Mohamed is a professor at the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and an Atlantic Senior fellow for Equity in brain health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). Currently, he is leading the Egyptian Survey of Healthy Aging (AL-SEHA).

Through a Bartlett Fund for Critical Challenges from the AUC, Mohamed started an exposome project to evaluate the totality of environmental exposure in Parkinson’s disease. Recently, through one of the EXAF projects, Mohamed and his team are piloting the Egyptian Dementia Registry. Additionally, he is a member of the steering committee of the International Parkinson’s Disease Genome Consortium (IPDGC)- Africa and the Scientific Committee of the Egyptian National Genome Project and the National committee of Toxicology."

Dr Maëlenn Guerchet is a senior researcher at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), with a focus on ageing and dementia in sub-Saharan Africa. Her PhD focused on the assessment, prevalence and risk factors of dementia among older adults living in French speaking African countries (Benin, Central African Republic and Congo). Maëlenn extended her interests in brain health by comparing how the dementia epidemic affects African and other low- and middle-income countries in a world going through demographic, social and epidemiological transitions.

Dr Guerchet has lead several projects in West Africa (Benin, Ghana) and coordinated a multicenter population-based survey in Central Africa (EPIDEMCA/FU). She is a member of the Africa Dementia Consortium, the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health (Global Brain Health Institute). She has also contributed to several reports published by Alzheimer’s Disease International and the World Health Organization.

She is currently posted at the University of Abomey-Calavi, in Benin.  

Dr. Amoakoh-Coleman is a Public Health Physician and Clinical Epidemiologist and works as a Senior Research Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), at the University of Ghana, Legon. She has over twenty years’ experience in clinical work, public health, and research with practical technical expertise in global health program implementation, working in malaria prevention and treatment, maternal health, and non-communicable diseases. She also works as a clinician on clinical trials at the Clinical Trials Unit, of the Department of Epidemiology at the NMIMR, and teaches at the University of Ghana Medical School and the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, is involved in other capacity building programs for early career researchers.

Specifically for work on non-communicable diseases among the elderly, she worked with a team from the UK, Italy and India on intervention for the elderly with non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, using the W.H.O. SAGE data, together with some reviews and qualitative work, focusing on hypertension and depression among populations in five (5) countries including Ghana. She also contributed to a technical report on Dementia in sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and opportunities, an Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) publication. She is currently a co-investigator on two NIHR funded projects on non-communicable diseases with other African institutional partners.