CCNA’s research in Phase II aimed to strengthen the understanding of:
How neurodegenerative diseases develop
- Ways of slowing Dementia progression and eventually preventing it altogether
- Dementia’s impact on the individual, families, and the community as a whole

Theme 1: Prevention
Team 1: Clinical genetics and gene discovery
Led by Drs. Ekaterina Rogaeva and Ziv Gan-Or
Led by Drs. Ekaterina Rogaeva and Ziv Gan-Or. This team includes 4 additional internationally-recognized Canadian experts in molecular/clinical genetics and functional genomic approaches (Drs. Peter St. George-Hyslop, Kathy Siminovitch, Guy Rouleau, and Ian Mackenzie). In Phase II, this team will continue to function as a platform, carrying out genotyping on CCNA research participants, as well as a research program that studies a range of neurodegenerative diseases that have similar symptoms. To increase the power of the dataset being built, the overall CCNA cohort will eventually be pooled with cohorts collected in the laboratories of each member of this team, and international consortia focused on discovering new disease genes or modifiers of clinical phenotypes. To highlight disease-associated variants/regions, we are planning to use Canadian core facilities and a shared platform of genomic informatics tools. This work will inform other CCNA translational teams and allow the construction of genetically-stratified cohorts that will be valuable for all CCNA teams and potential therapeutic trials. Team 1 will also underpin pre-clinical studies directed towards target discovery for novel therapeutics and diagnostics by identifying individuals with genotypes of interest for the creation of human neuronal cell models that will complement animal/cellular models.
Team 2: Inflammation & nerve growth factors
Led by Drs. Claudio Cuello, Margaret Fahnestock and Pedro Rosa-Neto
Led by Drs. Claudio Cuello, Margaret Fahnestock and Pedro Rosa-Neto, whose research team is working on the multidisciplinary aspects of brain repair and brain aging.
Team 3: Protein misfolding
Led by Dr. Neil Cashman
Led by Dr. Neil Cashman, who networks his lab (and two other CCNA labs) to investigate the fundamental and translational science on how misfolded proteins cause neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Team 4: Early detection and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases
Led by Dr. Robert Bartha
Led by Dr. Robert Bartha. The team’s goal is to identify the earliest metabolic, synaptic, and inflammatory changes in the brain that could provide new therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers. The team uses cutting edge tools in its work, including novel animal models (to study specific aspects of disease) and automated cognitive testing in these models that is sensitive to small changes in the brain’s executive function and memory. Using some of the most advanced imaging equipment available in Canada, the team has developed non-invasive, high-resolution imaging methods that are sensitive to brain metabolism, function, and microstructure. These methods are designed to link the team’s results from the animal models to CCNA’s COMPASS-ND study. More broadly, the team is focused on understanding whether sex differences associated with metabolic and inflammatory changes can accelerate disease progression.
Team 5: Nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle in Alzheimer’s disease prevention
Led by Dr. Guylaine Ferland
Led by Dr. Guylaine Ferland, whose studies aim to identify nutrition strategies that support optimal cognitive function with aging. Specifically, Ferland and her team study the relationships between lifelong dietary patterns, risk of cognitive decline with aging, and how diet-associated vascular and metabolic disorders affect this decline. This is, in part, achieved by conducting epidemiological studies that explore the inter-relationships amongst diet, physical activity, other lifestyle factors (e.g. social engagement, socioeconomic status), metabolic factors (e.g. inflammatory markers), and specific genes, using existing and emerging Canadian cohort studies. Through these analyses, the team aims to better characterize the individuals at high risk of cognitive decline and identify how diet, exercise, and lifestyle components interact. In parallel, Ferland’s team has launched a clinical trial (LEAD), exploring the effects of diet and exercise on the brain’s structure and its cognitive performance. The study includes older adults who have subjective cognitive decline (i.e. self-reported perception of memory or cognition problems) and vascular risk factors (obesity, T2DM, or hypertension). These groups have been targeted because they are at high risk for both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementias (and their combination), but are still performing cognitively within a normal range. With this trial, the team will determine whether the benefits of exercise training on brain outcome measures can be enhanced with dietary change, consistent with the Brain Health Food Guide (BHFG) that was recently developed by the team. To access both English and French versions of the guide, click here.
Theme 2: Treatment
Team 6: Sleep and dementia
Led by Drs. Thanh Dang-Vu and Andrew Lim
Sleep and Dementia is working to better understand how poor sleep and circadian rhythms contribute to dementia, and how effective sleep and circadian rhythm-based interventions can build brain resilience and prevent cognitive impairment and decline. Led by Drs. Thanh Dang-Vu and Andrew Lim, the team is using wearable devices to measure sleep in hundreds of older adults, and relating this data to cognition, brains scans, and other dementia biomarkers. This will help the team to understand key mechanisms linking sleep to dementia. The team is also testing if interventions to improve sleep and sleep physiology can improve cognition and prevent (or perhaps even reverse) dementia-related brain changes. Leading to new approaches to leverage sleep and circadian rhythms, this work has the potential to impact the health of millions of Canadians at risk for, or living with, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Team 7: Vascular illness and its impact on neurodegenerative diseases
Led by Drs. Eric Smith and Bojana Stefanovic
Led by Drs. Eric Smith and Bojana Stefanovic. This team includes 18 basic and clinical researchers who are working together to translate discoveries about vascular disease into therapeutic treatments for vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). In some cases, VCI may be caused by a symptomatic stroke that causes paralysis or speech loss. More subtly, it shows up as concentration or memory problems that result from damage to the brain from extended periods of hypertension (i.e. abnormally high blood pressure), metabolic syndrome, or multiple subtle strokes. Specifically, the team is: (1) developing a new understanding of the disease process of VCI in animal models of vascular risk and vascular disease (including testing new therapies); (2) defining brain images and blood biomarkers of the earliest VCI changes in human beings; and (3) using this information to conduct a clinical trial of a new therapy called remote ischemic conditioning in people with early stage VCI.
Team 8: Lewy bodies, aging, and dementia
Led by Dr. Richard Camicioli
Led by Dr. Richard Camicioli, who focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of dementia and Parkinson’s disease. This team includes movement disorder programs from across the country, as well as cognitive programs that care for people living with Lewy body disorders (LBD). The diversity of these programs ensures that the full range of people living with LBD are recruited to participate in the research projects undertaken. The role that differences (heterogeneity) plays in diagnosis and prognosis in LBD is being examined using fluid biomarkers, genetic markers, clinical assessments (including non-motor symptoms, cognitive, and gait measures), and neuro-imaging. In addition, the impact that cognitive resilience, reserve, frailty, and co-morbidity have on an individual’s observable characteristics, diagnosis, and prognosis is being examined. Current projects are in-progress based on collaborations with Team 7 (Vascular); Team 9 (Biomarker); Team 12 (Mobility, Exercise, and Cognition); Team 13 (Frontotemporal Dementia); and Team 14 (Multi-morbidity). Given the sex differences in LBD – compared with other dementias – a central consideration in our analyses is women, gender, and sex through the CCNA’s WGSD program.
Team 9: Developing new biomarkers
Led by Drs. Roger A. Dixon and M. Natasha Rajah
Led by Drs. Roger A. Dixon and M. Natasha Rajah. This team is an active collection of over 30 Canadian investigators who contribute varied interests and complementary approaches to biomarker research in aging and neurodegenerative disease. We promote synergies and collaboration across a spectrum of biomarker domains and expertise. This spectrum includes neuroimaging, neurobiology, neurocognitive and neuroinformatics modalities. Accordingly, Team 9 endorses a range of approaches to biomarker discovery and validation, including hypothesis-guided, interaction/network-targeting, data-driven, and multi-omics designs. A leading aim of Team 9 is to foster collaborative research that implements emerging technologies such as machine learning, data mining, connectomics, metabol/lipidomics, genomics, trajectory analyses, heterogeneity, and precision subtype discovery. We support enhanced consideration of sex and gender, as well as research that features diverse aging-related risk and protection influences on brain health, resilience and dementia..
Team 10: Cognitive intervention, reserve and brain plasticity
Led by Drs. Sylvie Belleville and Nicole Anderson
Led by Drs. Sylvie Belleville and Nicole Anderson. This team aims to advance knowledge about how cognitive reserve and brain plasticity prevent or delay age-related neurodegenerative diseases, to develop training programs to increase resilience, and to bring them to the community in order to make them accessible to all segments of the population. Specifically, team members are contributing to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which some people are more resistant than others to the effects of aging, as well as the individual characteristics that make some people more responsive to cognitive training. They have created a program that combines training in memory and attention strategies with stimulating leisure activities (e.g., learning music, learning a second language, watching documentaries, and playing active video games). Participants’ brain structures and functions, cognition, and well-being are being measured immediately before and after training, and then again 2 years later to assess the long-term maintenance of benefits. Moreover, the team is developing strategies to make cognitive training programs accessible to most Canadians by finding ways to distribute them to the community and using new technologies (such as virtual reality or online platforms) to distribute those programs to remote communities. Finally, they are piloting some multi-domain cognitive programs (including cognitive training, leisure activities, physical exercise, and nutrition advice) that can be customized to meet individual needs.
Team 11: Prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms
Led by Drs. Nathan Herrmann, Krista Lanctôt, and Dallas Seitz
Led by Drs. Nathan Herrmann, Krista Lanctôt, and Dallas Seitz. Working in collaboration with researchers across Canada, they have created the first long-term care (LTC) research consortium, comprised of 20 facilities and spanning 7 provinces. This research consortium has been used to examine educational, pharmacological, and non-pharmacological interventions aimed at preventing and treating neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and minimizing their severity, duration, and impact among residents with dementia in LTC settings. In the CCNA’s second phase, the team aims to identify novel drugs for the treatment of NPS among LTC residents; create an online dementia education course for family doctors (with a focus on identifying, diagnosing, and managing NPS); and continue funding pilot projects in LTC and outpatients with NPS, with greater emphasis on preventing disability.
Team 12: Mobility, exercise, and cognition
Led by Drs. Manuel Montero-Odasso and Louis Bherer
Team 13: Frontotemporal dementia
Led by Drs. Elizabeth Finger and Simon Ducharme
Led by Drs. Elizabeth Finger and Simon Ducharme. This team examines the factors that cause dementia, with a particular focus on atypical and young onset dementia. Specifically, team members explore new laboratory and imaging techniques to help identify and distinguish the various types of dementia at their earliest stage. Further interests include investigating new techniques to treat different types of dementias at different stages.
Theme 3: Quality of life
Team 14: Multi-morbidity and dementia
Led by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood
Led by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, whose team researches the impact multi-morbidities have on dementia. In particular, he looks at the impact frailty and social vulnerability have on speeding up dementia’s onset and progression, and how dementia can be better managed and treated.
Team 15: Issues in dementia care for rural populations
Led by Drs. Megan O’Connell and Debra Morgan
Led by Drs. Megan O’Connell and Debra Morgan. As a registered clinical psychologist with specialty training in clinical neuropsychology, Dr. O’Connell leads the Neuropsychology Team of the Rural and Remote Memory Clinic (RRMC), based at the University of Saskatchewan. In CCNA’s second phase, the team is developing the RRMC-interventions (RRMCi), a suite of psychological interventions that will be delivered by Telehealth to rural families of persons living with dementia across Saskatchewan. These interventions infuse neuropsychology and interprofessional practice with remote service delivery out of 2 research labs: RAIN (Remote Assessment and Intervention with Neuropsychology) and ViTAL (Videotherapy Analysis Lab). The RRMCi includes an interdisciplinary team, and the interventions include a Telehealth-based sleep intervention; Telehealth cognitive rehabilitation; a remotely-delivered social inclusion intervention; and the development of ruralCARES – a caregiver support app for mobile phones. In collaboration with Team 16, researchers will adapt a driving cessation intervention for remote delivery. Working with Team 18, members will create a remotely-delivered Indigenous caregiver support group. For more information on this team, visit the RaDAR website.
Team 16: Driving & dementia
Led by Drs. Gary Naglie and Mark Rapoport
Led by Drs. Gary Naglie and Mark Rapoport, and Elaine Stasiulis is the program’s research associate. Working with a cross-Canada research team, they are creating interventions and generating knowledge to support people with dementia, family caregivers, and healthcare providers to meet the decision-making and psychosocial and health-related challenges posed by driving cessation. As of 2019, the team is in the final stages of developing and evaluating a web-based toolkit for driving cessation in persons with dementia. This toolkit is a curated collection of materials and resources (e.g., worksheets, videos, and driving assessments) with content geared to supporting individuals with dementia in the decision-making process and transition to non-driving. Two of their upcoming projects involve using implementation science and video technology to develop and evaluate: (1) an educational workshop intervention that will help healthcare providers develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to proactively facilitate timely driving cessation while supporting the transition to non-driving and optimizing individuals’ quality of life; and (2) a virtually-delivered group-based intervention for people with dementia and family caregivers that addresses the practical (e.g., alternative transportation) and psychological (e.g., identity, loss, and grief) aspects of driving cessation. Another upcoming project will explore the safety and acceptability of autonomous vehicle technology for individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Using the high fidelity computerized driving simulator at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, this project will inform guidelines on which levels of vehicle automation and in what types of driving conditions can be safely used by this target group.
Team 17: Interventions at the sensory and cognitive interface
Led by Drs. Natalie Phillips and Walter Wittich
Led by Drs. Natalie Phillips and Walter Wittich. The team’s research focuses on the role of sensory function (hearing, vision, and olfaction) in older adults who live with, or are at risk of developing, dementia. Sensory difficulties are common in older adults and have important implications for their cognitive function, brain function, and everyday activities. This team studies the interaction between sensory loss and cognitive function – i.e., the challenges this presents for cognitive assessment and early detection of dementia, as well as the implications for quality of life (including communication and interaction with others). For this, the team uses a number of research approaches, including analyzing large databases (e.g., the CCNA’s signature study COMPASS-ND, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, the Canadian Institute for Health Information), as well as experimental studies, experimental interventions, and qualitative interviews. Please visit the team’s website for more information.
Team 18: Issues in dementia care for indigenous populations
Led by Drs. Jennifer Walker and Lindsay Crowshoe
Issues in Dementia Care for Indigenous Populations focuses on responding to dementia research priorities identified by Indigenous communities in Ontario through participatory and action-oriented research approaches. Led by Drs. Jennifer Walker and Lindsay Crowshoe, team members from across Canada are working with communities to improve cognitive assessment and the detection and diagnosis of dementia; to understand the connection between trauma, culture and dementia; and to develop culturally safe, trauma-informed approaches to addressing dementia. To learn more about their CCNA activities and related projects on issues of aging and dementia in Indigenous populations, click here.
Team 19: Integrating dementia patient care into the health care system
Led by Drs. Isabelle Vedel and Howard Bergman
Led by Drs. Isabelle Vedel and Howard Bergman. This pan-Canadian multidisciplinary team is working towards an international first: evaluating Alzheimer’s disease plans centered in primary care. Team members are examining the factors that influence detection, diagnosis, quality of care, and use of services, as well as the key elements necessary for the successful implementation of innovative care models. The results are being used across Canada and internationally by decision makers, managers, clinicians, and policy makers. For example, team results were used in the implementation of the Quebec Alzheimer’s Plan and in the development of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences’ expert panel report, the Assessment of Evidence and Best Practices for the creation of a National Dementia Strategy (including Dr. Vedel and Carrie McAiney, and chaired by Dr. Bergman). To learn more about this team’s work, and to read their newsletter, infographics and other material, please visit the Team 19 webpage or this page on the McGill University website.
Cross-cutting programs
CCNA’s Cross-cutting Programs have been priority areas since 2014. These programs had their own dedicated leadership and funding. They worked collaboratively with one another and provided guidance, resources, and training on their respective focus areas to all CCNA research teams and trainees.
This ensures that these important areas are considered and incorporated across all CCNA research and events.
Interested?
CCNA’s signature study, involving all three Themes, is The Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Dementia (COMPASS-ND). It is a large scale clinical study aiming to understand dementia risk factors and tests of early detection of dementia. Interested participants may contact us here: ccna.RA@ladydavis.ca (Note that recruitment is temporarily paused)
Seven national platforms were established to facilitate the research.
This work builds on the research conducted at CCNA in Phase I.


Receive the latest news
Stay updated with the latest research developments from CCNA-CCNV. Our news section provides insights into cutting-edge studies, advancements in dementia care, and key findings in brain health research.