Iracema Leroi, MD, FRCPC, MRCPsych

Professor in Geriatric Psychiatry

We need to investigate trans-disciplinary and trans-national approaches to improve the lives of people living with dementia.

Current Work

Iracema is an academic geriatric psychiatrist with a special interest in pragmatic interventions for the cognitive and neuropsychiatric aspects of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer disease. Iracema is Chief Investigator for the SENSE-Cog programme which aims to understand the links among hearing, vision and cognitive impairment in older people in five European countries.

Personal Hero

Sir Richard Francis Burton

Words of Strength

Building a team with a shared vision

Vision

The impacts of dementia are multi-faceted, so we need to investigate trans-disciplinary and trans-national approaches to improve the lives of people living with dementia, as well as to prevent or slow the emergence of dementia.

Strategy

Iracema is a geriatric psychiatrist working with people who have developed dementia. At St James's Hospital in Dublin, Iracema leads the 'Mind and Memory' clinic, which aims to support people with cognitive and behavioral complications in Parkinson's-related conditions, including Lewy body dementia.

Motivation

Iracema works at the applied end of research, developing and testing interventions to support people living with dementia or at risk of developing dementia.She believes strongly in including the patient and public voice in every aspect of her work and the organizations she works in.

Education & Experience

Iracema received her medical school training from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She trained in psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University in Canada. She then completed a fellowship in the neuropsychiatry of neurodegenerative disorders and joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins Univeristy before moving to the United Kingdom, where she was became Professor of Psychiatry in Aging and Dementia at the University of Manchester. Iracema joined Trinity College Dublin in 2019. She recently led one of the largest RCTs of a non-pharmacological intervention for cognitive impairment related to Parkinson's disease (the INVEST study). She also has close collaborations for applied dementia research in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Awards & Honors

American College of Rehab Medicine
2018
Brucker Symposium Award winner
Okayama University, Japan
2017
Japan Society for Promotion of Science
Greater Manchester, UK
2016
NIHR Principal Investigator of the Year
UK National Chief Medical Officer’s Awards
2015
Industry Investigator of the Year
2016
University of Manchester Social Responsibility Commendation
2013
Parkinson’s UK/BGS PD Academy best “Graduate to Faculty” Award
National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts (NESTA)
2007
Crucible award for early career researchers
Parkinson’s UK
2006
Senior Research Fellowship
American Neuropsychiatric Association
2000
Young Investigators’ Award

Podcasts

Near FM

Talkin’ About Neurodegeneration: Iracema Leroi, JP Connolly, David Loughrey and Ronald Cartin

Sensory Cognitive Health (Visual & Hearing Impairment)

July 26, 2021
Near FM

Talkin’ About Neurodegeneration: Iracema Leroi, Christine Maddocks, Peter Owens, Jacqui Cannon

Lewy Body Disease

May 17, 2021

Featured Publications