AJS McFadzean Distinguished Lecture: Precision Medicine for Dementia: Thinking Large and Thinking Small

The second AJS McFadzean Distinguished Lecture of 2023, titled "Precision Medicine for Dementia: Thinking Large and Thinking Small," was successfully held at the HKU-Cambridge Joint Medical Symposium on November 11, 2023. The lecture was delivered by Professor James Rowe, Professor of Cognitive Neurology from the University of Cambridge. Professor Rowe emphasized the promising applications of precision medicine in tackling neurodegenerative diseases, addressing both macro- and meso-scale approaches.

Venue: Grand Ballroom, Basement, Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel, 180 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Date: November 11, 2023 (Saturday) at 5:10 pm

Language: The official language of the lecture is English. There will be no simultaneous translation

Continuing Professional Education Accreditation: To be confirmed

As Professor of Cognitive Neurology, James Rowe studies the mechanisms and potential treatments for dementia, including frontotemporal dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Alzheimer’s disease. He trained in medical sciences (1st) and experimental psychology (1st) at the University of Cambridge (1991), before clinical studies at the University of Oxford (1994). He later completed his PhD at the Institute of Neurology, University College, London (2001). After specialist training in Neurology, in London and Copenhagen, he returned to the University of Cambridge in 2005. He is Associate Director of DPUK, leading the academic-industrial partnership for experimental medicine. As Chief Scientific Adviser to Alzheimers Research UK, he has highlighted the need for clear pathways to impact against dementia, and promoted improvements in research culture, including greater diversity of researchers and diversity of participants in research. He now leads the Dementia and Neurodegeneration theme across the National Institute for Health Research’s Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia and the clinical program within the Cambridge Centre for Parkinson-plus. Prof Rowe remains clinically active as Consultant Neurologist in the regional memory clinic services. His research brings together multimodal brain imaging (including multi-ligand positron emission tomography, magnetoencephalography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging), neurogenetics (including the genetic frontotemporal dementia initiative), psychopharmacology and computational modelling (including generative models of cortical physiology) of cognition. These methods not only enable deep-phenotyping of large patient cohorts, but also enable inferences about meso-scale processes of human neurodegenerative disease that are not directly observable in life. This approach provides a powerful platform to understand individual differences in neurological disease, and smarter ways to assess the efficacy of novel treatments.