Berenice Werle, MD, MSc

Berenice is a geriatrician, vice president of the state section of the Brazilian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, and director of the Moriguchi Institute.

Personal Hero

Emilio H. Moriguchi

Words of Strength

Embracing new challenges

Vision

Patients with dementia must be included in community life. Families need to have a support network, and everyone must understand the problem and know how to deal with it on a routine basis, just as we work with people with other cognitive impairments.

Strategy

Berenice participates in support groups for caregivers and family members of patients with dementia, teaching classes with guidance. She is working on a population project to create a friendly environment for people with dementia.

Impact

As an Atlantic Fellow, Berenice intends to learn ways to implement the project Dementia-Friendly Cities, an initiative to improve accessibility for people living with dementia and their caretakers in the municipality where she works.

Motivation

In Brazil, patients with dementia need a great deal of involvement from their families since support from the health system is quite limited. Families do not have a support network or a multidisciplinary team that helps in everyday situations.

Education & Experience

Berenice received her medical school training and master’s degree in a medical clinic, with a concentration in Geriatrics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre/RS/Brazil. Since 2009, she has worked at the Veranópolis Project: studies on aging, longevity, and quality of life, where she participates in clinical research and population studies projects. Together with three other researchers, she founded the Moriguchi Institute in 2016 to encourage research in the area of human aging.

Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI)

current

Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/RS/Brazil

Geriatrics

MSc

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/RS/Brazil

Medicine