SEMINAR: "Recent advances in Alzheimer's Disease Research�

Ralph Martins’ career in Alzheimer’s disease has spanned 25 years and resulted in over 200 publications in mid to high impact journals. He established the McCusker Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease Research. In 2004, Martins was appointed to the inaugural Chair in Ageing & Alzheimers at Edith Cowan University. He has close ties with Perth geriatricians and the clinical academics at the University of Western Australia and maintains affiliations as Adj Professor, in the University of Western Australia School of Psychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences and Curtin University of Technology . In 2001 he was appointed Professor at the Research Centre & Community Services, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Indonesia, a non-salaried position where his role is to uplift research in the new medical faculty. Early 2006 he was appointed Adj. Professor at Thomas Jefferson University’s Farber Neurosciences Inst. and through this collaboration was awarded a US NIH program grant. He is a Snr Editor, for the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Editorial Board Member for CNS & Neurological Disease. He brought together researchers from Western Australian universities, hospitals and aged care providers to establish the Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research of which he is director. With Colin Masters and David Ames was successful in obtaining a CSIRO Flagship grant to identify early diagnostic markers of AD. He is a board member of 3 research foundations and several committees for national research organizations. He founded the Western Australian biotech company Alzhyme to develop anti-amyloid drugs for AD. This has allowed Alzhyme to take a lead compound from concept to successful animal trials in 4 years. In November 2009 he was awarded the WA Australian of the year for 2010.