GBHI and Fondation Alzheimer Announce New Partnership and Training Opportunity

One of the major challenges in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is to unite new and bold ideas with sufficient resources for global impact. With this in mind, the Global Brain Health Institute and Fondation Alzheimer (France) are launching the 2022 French Alzheimer’s Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health Program to empower French medical researchers and clinicians committed to Alzheimer’s disease and global change.

“We are delighted to join with the Fondation Alzheimer to offer this training opportunity to brain health leaders in France,” said Victor Valcour, MD, PhD, Executive Director of GBHI. “These types of partnerships are critical to our mission to reduce the scale and impact of dementia worldwide. We can achieve so much more impact through partnerships and global collaboration.”

The program will provide innovative training, extensive networking, and long-term support to the fellows. With a 12-month immersion at either the University of California, San Francisco (USA) or Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), fellows will benefit from an interdisciplinary approach—including epidemiology, statistics, ethics, law, and leadership—supported by world leading experts in brain health and dementia.

“Providing support to young medical researchers and clinicians is our priority”, said Professor Philippe Amouyel, Director of the Fondation Alzheimer. To do so, the Foundation chose to fund both training opportunities and project development. “However, it is often difficult for French medical researchers and clinicians to follow training programs abroad, due to lack of resources and time,” added Professor Amouyel. In order for them to be competitive and innovative in the field of Alzheimer research and care in France, Fondation Alzheimer partners with the Global Brain Health Institute to offer new and impactful possibilities.”      

After the training year, Atlantic Fellows are expected to return to France to develop an innovative project using their newly acquired knowledge. Fellows will continue to have access to career-duration mentoring, funding supports, and an international network of colleagues.

“The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health is an incredible experience and a unique opportunity to work with people from different countries and extremely diverse disciplines, ranging from medicine to human science, music to photography,” said Yaohua Chen, Atlantic Fellow and Neurogeriatrician in Lille (France). “We have a common goal of protecting brain health and reducing the impact of dementias through transdisciplinary collaboration.”

Such an immersive training program is expected to open enriching opportunities for French medical researchers and clinicians in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. GBHI and FA believe that it will positively influence French research and care by promoting collaborative work and facilitating new ideas.

“The fellowship has allowed me to work with internationally renowned academics from the University of California, San Francisco and Trinity College Dublin University,” said Eléonore Bayen, Atlantic Fellow and Neurologist and researcher in Paris (France). “I followed a personalized leadership training, in interaction with the other fellows with extremely courageous, brilliant and original backgrounds. The challenge of this training is to become, in parallel with our commitment to research and care, real advocates for change, at local, national and international levels.”

Candidates must be French citizens with a medical doctorate and university doctorate degree (MD and PhD) obtained within the last 10 years. They must also hold a permanent position within a French academic institution at the time of the application or be in the process of obtaining one within 2 years, and be proficient in English. For more about the partnership and opportunity, please visit https://www.gbhi.org/2022-french-fondation-alzheimer-atlantic-fellow-partnership.

Global Brain Health Institute

The Global Brain Health Institute is a leader in the global community dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. GBHI works to reduce the scale and impact of dementia in three ways: by training and connecting the next generation of leaders in brain health through the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program; by collaborating in expanding preventions and interventions; and by sharing knowledge and engaging in advocacy. GBHI strives to improve brain health for populations across the world, reaching into local communities and across our global network. GBHI brings together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions. GBHI focuses on working compassionately with all people including those in vulnerable and under-served populations to improve outcomes and promote dignity for all people. GBHI is based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Trinity College Dublin (Trinity). To learn more about GBHI, please visit us at gbhi.org or follow us on Twitter @GBHI_Fellows.

Fondation Alzheimer

Created in 2008, Fondation Alzheimer (FA) acts as the #1 French non-profit organization supporting Alzheimer research. FA’s main mission is dedicated to research, innovation and prevention. Together with its international scientific advisory board and operational committee composed of renowned and outstanding international experts, the FA team launches multiple actions every year to reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia. In 12 years, the Foundation has funded more than 110 projects going from basic research to social and healthcare sciences. FA is proud to invest 100% of the received donations into research.

To make a real difference in the fight against Alzheimer, one of FA’s priority concerns the support of young investigators, including both researchers and clinicians. The Foundation currently has 2 specific programs (Young investigator grant and Joël Ménard award) and is looking to engage further efforts in helping outstanding young fellows in their career. The partnership with GBHI is the result of such commitment. To learn more about FA, please visit us at www.fondation-alzheimer.org/ or follow us on Twitter @StopALZ.