Dr Pat Kehoe, Reader in Translational Dementia Research in the School of Clinical Sciences and who co-leads the Dementia Research Group at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, has over 16 years experience on Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias and mental health research.
The aim of the RAC is to provide expert independent advice and support to the charity’s clinical, scientific and research activities.
Committee members advise the Society on the direction and focus of the research strategy, and act as ambassadors for dementia research and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Dr Kehoe, speaking about his appointment, said: “I feel deeply honoured at this invitation as the Research Advisory Committee play a critical role in helping to shape the manner in which the Alzheimer’s Society will support research into dementia.
“The Alzheimer’s Society is working to greatly increase their support of research in the future, so I am really looking forward to being involved in the RAC’s work, which will help to ensure that research and treatment for dementia can be advanced.”
Dr Kehoe’s research and that of the Dementia Research Group he jointly leads with Professor Seth Love, is focused on the molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. One of the group’s main research themes is to understand the involvement of vascular abnormalities in the brain and how these may contribute to dementia but which also may be amenable to treatment by commonly occurring drugs used to treat other diseases.
The group’s research uses a number of complementary experimental methods to gain wider understanding of disease mechanisms, which are largely underpinned by their work on brain tissue from the Frenchay based-dementia brain bank, one of the largest such collections in the world.
The use of a number of complementary approaches allows the research group to study disease from the most basic elements of biology such as genes that can alter proteins, through the disrupted biochemical pathways in cells which can explain the clinical disturbances people experience. Collectively this approach enhances the group’s understanding of the disease, and allows them to make contributions which can lead to improvements in diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity and, eventually, to developing and implementing effective treatments.