2018 Pilot Awards for Global Brain Health Leaders (GBHI)

Primary-specialised Care Partnership for an Earlier Diagnosis of AD

Mircea Balasa, MD, Ph.D.
Trinity College
Dulbin, Ireland

Dr. Balasa’s goal is to implement a partnership between primary-care providers and specialized memory clinics in Barcelona, Spain. Through this exercise, Dr. Balasa hopes to achieve an early identification of cognitive impairment because one of the main reasons for low rates of diagnosis is lack of dementia-specific training among primary-care providers. In the project’s second phase, the study results will be used to improve the early diagnosis and implement testing tools more sensitive to early-stage cognitive decline. Dr. Balasa also plans to provide a training program for primary-care physicians in dementia diagnosis by partnering them with an academic memory clinic. The goal of this partnership is to create awareness about the benefits of timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.