Congratulations to Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michele Veldsman, who has received a grant from the Race Against Dementia Seed Fund. The grant will fund the first year pilot of the initiative, Transform Dementia Research (TDR), a new non-profit social enterprise that aims to transform how dementia research is carried out and accelerate discovery.
The cross-disciplinary and industry team behind TDR – co-led by Michele Veldsman and Hugo Fernandes (University of Cambridge) – is made up of neuroscientists from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Exeter and a former Formula 1 engineer. They have come together to radically revolutionise the way dementia research is done, taking inspiration from the speed of innovation, problem-solving and teamwork in Formula 1.
Michele Veldsman said: I am excited to co-lead Transform Dementia Research, which is aiming to completely change how we do dementia research. We want to find the biggest questions that need to be answered to accelerate discovery, then build cross-discipline, cross-industry teams to tackle these questions. We are taking inspiration from Formula 1, where teams work towards a single goal, innovating at incredible speed. We will encourage rigorous, innovative and open collaboration to bring real impacts to patients’ lives.
Race Against Dementia is a charity founded by F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart.