Falls and Cognition in Older Persons

Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso completed his undergraduate medical degree and his Doctorate in Medicine and Gerontology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. His postgraduate medical training included residencies in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. He completed a postdoctoral clinical and research fellowship at McGill University, Canada, after which he obtained certification in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine, by the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons, Canada. He is currently a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He is the director of the "Gait and Brain Lab" at Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, where he established a successful Gait and Brain Health research program while remaining an active geriatrician. He focuses on gait performance research combined with neuroimaging as a methodology for the early detection and future prevention of the development of frailty, falls, and dementia in older adults. His clinical trials have applied the novel approach of "improving cognition to improve mobility" using pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches such as physical exercise, cognitive brain and non-invasive brain stimulation. He is team leader in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), Canada's dementia research strategy and Team co-leader in the Ontario Neurodegenerative Research Initiative.

Dr. Richard Camicioli completed his undergraduate education in Engineering Chemistry at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He trained in Medicinal Chemistry at McGill University where he completed his medical education. After completing a neurology residency at McGill, he obtained postgraduate research training in Geriatric Neurology and in Movement Disorders at Oregon Health and Sciences University and the Portland VA Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. He then assumed a faculty position as Assistant Professor at Oregon Health and Sciences University until 2000 when he moved to the University of Alberta, initially as an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine (Neurology Division). He is currently a Professor and director of the Cognitive Neurology Program and an attending physician in the Movement Disorder Program. His major research interests relate to bio-fluid, gait and neuro-imaging biomarkers associated with cognition and functional decline in aging and in patients with movement disorders. He directs the Canadian Consortium on Neuro-degeneration of Aging (CCNA) Lewy Body Team.