Is This Dementia?

In this episode of Is This Dementia? , hosts Darsh and Sarah sit down with Kym Torresi , a speech pathologist with over 30 years of experience supporting people living with dementia. Kym shares her person-first perspective on dementia, explaining why communication and swallowing support are critical for maintaining independence and quality of life. We explore the often-overlooked role of speech pa...

In this heartfelt and insightful episode, hosts Darsh Ayton and Sarah Carmody speak with Professor Helen Rawson, a registered nurse and deputy head of Monash University's School of Nursing and Midwifery. Helen shares her personal journey as a carer for her mother living with dementia and reflects on how her cultural background and early experiences shaped her lifelong commitment to nursing and age...

In this episode of Is This Dementia?, hosts Darsh Ayton and Sarah Carmody are joined by Christina Wyatt, a seasoned occupational therapist and Professional Practice Advisor at Occupational Therapy Australia. With over two decades of experience across aged care, rehabilitation, and disability services, Christina offers a look into the vital—yet often underestimated—role of occupational therapy in s...

Join our conversation with Dr Marianne Coleman, an orthoptist and researcher working at the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, a collaboration between Monash University and Peninsula Health. Marianne's dementia research has been funded by the UK Royal Society of Medicine, Fight for Sight (the UK's leading sight loss research charity) and the Dementia Australia Research Foundation. In this episode...

Listen to our conversation with Dr. Madeleine Healy, a passionate geriatrician and general physician supporting people living with dementia. Madeleine works across Monash Health and HammondCare, bringing her expertise to memory clinics, acute and subacute services, residential aged care, and Dementia Support Australia. In this episode, Madeleine shares her journey into dementia diagnosis and care,...

Associate Professor Yen Ying Lim is a clinical psychologist and researcher. Her primary research interests are in integrating and translating the effects of genetic, biological, and lifestyle factors on cognitive decline and clinical disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease. She is also interested in the development and validation of web-based cognitive tests for the early detection of cognitive...

Associate Professor Michael Woodward is Head of Aged Care Research and the Memory Clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne, Victoria. He is a specialist in geriatric medicine with major interests in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias. He is Principal Investigator for numerous research trials of new therapies for AD and related disorders. Michael describes working in aged car...

Associate Professor Samantha Loi is an old age psychiatrist and neuropsychiatrist working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuropsychiatry service and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. Sam is the current Victorian Chair of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age of the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Chair of the Young-Onset Dementia Special Interest Gr...

Mark Yates is a geriatrician in Ballarat, Victoria and Associate Professor at Deakin University. He is Clinical Lead for Safer Care Victoria’s Age Friendly Health Services 4Ms Program, lead geriatrician in the Grampians Region Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service CDAMS and is involved in many research projects. Mark takes us into the intriguing world of geriatrics, a field dedicated to addressing...

Professor Amy Brodtmann is a cognitive neurologist, with a research background in stroke, neuroimaging and dementia. Amy sheds light on the intricate world of dementia, revealing it as more than just a blanket term for memory loss. Just as heart disease signifies heart failure and kidney disease points to kidney failure, dementia represents brain failure that goes beyond forgetfulness. It disrupts...

Professor Dimity Pond is a general practitioner and has honorary Professor positions at Newcastle University, University of New England and the University of Tasmania with the Wicking Dementia Research and Teaching Centre. Dimity has a passion and interest in dementia and aged care. Dimity emphasises the pivotal role of general practitioners (GPs) in diagnosing dementia and guiding patients throug...

Professor Scott Ayton is the Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Enhanced Dementia Diagnosis (CREEDD) and head of the Dementia Mission and the Translational Neurodegeneration Group at The Florey Neuroscience Institute. Professor Scott Ayton shares with us the intriguing world of neuroscience, shedding light on how it intertwines with psychology, biochemistry, and physiology to unlock...

Welcome to “Is This Dementia?”—a podcast brought to you by the Centre of Research Excellence in Enhanced Dementia Diagnosis. In our debut episode, hosts Darsh and Sarah share the compelling inspiration behind this series. After conducting interviews with individuals across Australia who have gone through the journey of a dementia diagnosis either as a patient or as a significant person (spouse, pa...