NeuRA’s Prof John Hodges was awarded the Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research at the 2015 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington DC.
The AAIC Lifetime Achievement Awards honor individuals who have made significant fundamental contributions to Alzheimer’s research, either through a single scientific discovery or a body of work. These contributions, whether they have been in research, leadership or mentorship, must have had a lasting impact on the field and must have demonstrated a lifetime commitment towards progress against Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The awards are named in honor of Henry Wisniewski, M.D., Ph.D.; Khalid Iqbal, Ph.D.; and Bengt Winblad, M.D., Ph.D. — co-founders of the Alzheimer’s Association scientific conference, now known as the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC). Since its inception and first iteration they each held key leadership roles in planning and conceptualizing the conference:
Khalid Iqbal and Bengt Winblad both served in leadership roles from the conference’s first iteration in 1988, including as co-chairs of the scientific program committee until 2008 and as committee members through 2013.
After a lifetime of contributions to the field of Alzheimer’s and dementia research, Henry Wisniewski passed away in 1999; to recognize his leadership and to show the Association’s gratitude, one of the lifetime achievement awards is named in his memory.
John Hodges is professor of cognitive neurology and is based at the Neuroscience Research Australia where he co-directs the Frontotemporal Dementia Research Group.
John qualified in medicine from London University with honours in 1975 and undertook periods of psychiatric and neurological training in Southampton, Oxford and San Diego, obtaining his M.D. in 1988. From 1997 to 2007 he was the MRC Professor of Behavioural Neurology with joint appointments in the department of clinical neuroscience at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit Cambridge where he led a multidisciplinary research group. In 2007 he moved to Sydney as federational fellow and professor of cognitive neurology. Dr. Hodges has a longstanding interest in many aspects of cognition, particularly in the context of neurodegenerative disorders. His current research focuses on aspects of frontotemporal dementia. He is the author of over 450 journal articles and five books including Cognitive Assessment for Clinicians, Early Onset Dementia and Frontotemporal Dementia Syndromes. His real passions remain jazz, cricket, ceramics and his family.
