-
Advocacy
Dementia is entering the era with new diaganostics, the first treatments and prevention interventions. How then does the global advocacy movement respond to this moment? What coalition is needed from scientists through to patients to collaborate, to share knowledge, to develop best practice and to deliver change? Learn how we are shaping the future of dementia advocacy and discover opportunities to contribute
-
Dialogue on biomarker innovation
Read the discussion on biomarker innovation chaired by Laura Nisenbaum, executive director of drug development ADDF, and Stacie Weninger, Venture Partner with F-Prime. With contributions from Randall Bateman, Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology at WashU, Charlotte Teunissen, Professor in Neurochemistry at VUmc, Michael Weiner ,Professor Radiology and Biomedical imaging, Medicine, Psychiatry, Neurology UCSF and Henrik Zetterberg, professor of neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg.
Date: 9 April 2026
Time: 14:00 BST | 15:00 CET | 09:00 EDT
Duration: 90 minutes
This World Dementia Council virtual dialogue will explore how new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease can move from research settings into real-world health systems.
For many patients today, the story of diagnosis is one of delay. People may wait before presenting to clinicians, specialist memory services can face long waiting times, and diagnoses made solely in primary care do not always identify the underlying disease. The emergence of plasma biomarkers has the potential to change this pathway, supporting earlier and more accurate diagnosis and helping clinicians determine when patients should be referred for specialist assessment.
Chaired by Dr Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at the Alzheimer’s Association, the meeting will feature opening presentations from Jeffery Burns, Professor of Medicine and Co-Director, University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Argonde van Harten Clinical lead and a senior researcher at the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Mark B. McClellan, Professor of Practice, Dukes University and Vanessa Raymont, Associate Professor University of Oxford and R&D Director Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The dialogue will examine the practical challenges of implementing biomarker-based diagnosis in health systems, including how these tools could be integrated into primary and secondary care pathways.
But this is not only a question of process. It is also a question of advocacy. While these innovations have the potential to transform diagnosis and benefit patients, that promise will only be realised if health systems choose to adopt and pay for new diagnostic technologies. The discussion will therefore also explore how the field can make the case for adoption and build the policy momentum needed for widespread implementation.
This dialogue follows a recent World Dementia Council discussion on scientific developments in the biomarker field and forms part of a wider WDC project exploring advocacy in an era of diagnostics and treatments. You can read more about the earlier meeting and the project below.