We are thrilled to announce that Dr Sebastian Walsh, an NIHR doctoral fellow based at Cambridge Public Health, has been awarded the Rising Star Award in the Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Research Excellence and People Awards. This award recognises exceptional PhD students or early postdoctoral researchers who have demonstrated remarkable success in their research careers.
Sebastian’s research focuses on public health approaches to dementia, with a particular emphasis on population-level interventions that reduce dementia risk for everyone. These approaches have the greatest reach and can achieve the largest, most sustained, and equitable reductions in disease.
Sebastian’s commitment to improving older people's health is deeply personal, rooted in his background as a clinical and public health doctor, and inspired by his grandparents, Mary and Peter Walsh, who lived with the challenges of dementia.
I am truly honoured to win this award from Alzheimer’s Society. This recognition means a lot and provides extra motivation to continue my research into public health approaches to tackling dementia. I’m lucky to work with such amazing colleagues at Cambridge Public Health, especially Professor Carol Brayne from whom I continue to learn so much, and also from further afield. Looking forward, I’m excited about the possibilities for dementia risk reduction research, and working to ensure than we utilise resources for dementia diagnosis and care in a way that maximises benefits for those who need it most.
Sebastian has played a key role in the developing the Population-Level Approaches to Dementia Risk Reduction (PLADRR) research group, part of the International Research Network on Dementia Prevention.
His recent publication in eClinicalMedicine, "Population-level interventions for the primary prevention of dementia: a complex evidence review," outlines a framework of recommended interventions that are proven to reduce dementia risk factors across the population.
For more information on Sebastian Walsh’s research and accomplishments, please visit our Researcher Spotlight.