Lorina Naci, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychology

Working to develop biomarkers that enable early diagnosis and treatment in mid-life.

Current Work

Lorina's group develops novel and clinically applicable neural markers of healthy and disordered cognition in healthy aging and patient populations. Collaborating with Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh universities, they are developing early biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in asymptomatic individuals, 20-30 years prior to potential diagnosis. This could lead to early detection, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia.

Personal Hero

Mahatma Gandhi

Words of Strength

Think big, word hard, achieve

Vision

As exposure to several modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins many decades before AD onset, interventions must be implemented in mid-life. However, the brain-based indicators of the disease process in mid-life are poorly understood.

Strategy

Through multi-centre international collaborations, Lorina's group is helping to develop biomarkers that enable early diagnosis and treatment in mid-life, a necessary preliminary step to all future interventions at the earliest stages of AD.

Motivation

Lorina's multidisciplinary work enriches the GBHI learning environment with education in public-health approaches, clinical assessment, policy, interventions, public and patient involvement methodologies. Fellow activities include scientific discovery, policy and ethics, clinical practice, working with vulnerable populations and knowledge dissemination.

Education & Experience

Lorina is Associate Professor and group leader at the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Cooke Fellow. In 2017, she received the L’Oréal – UNESCO International Rising Talent Award. Her work focuses on developing novel biomarkers of healthy and disordered cognition in the ageing and patient populations. Concurrently, she explores the medico–ethical and societal implications of these applications. She is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Irish Research Council, and Enterprise Ireland, among others. Her work has been published in high-impact scientific journals and covered widely in the international media, including the CBC, BBC, Science, Nature, the New Scientist and the Times.

Awards & Honors

UNESCO
2018
Featured on Wikipedia by the Permanent Canadian Mission
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
2018
"Women in Science Leadership" meeting in Kigali Rwanda
2017
L’Oréal-Unesco for Women In Science International Rising Talents Award
Albanian Canadian Excellence Award, Canada
2017
Academic Achievement Award
Western University, Canada
2016
L'Oréal for Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowship, with the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO 2016 Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year
Albanian Diaspora of Canada, Canada
2015
Distinguished Person of the Year
Western University, Canada
2014
One of Best 51 Discoveries Since 1878

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