Established in 2012, the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) is a collaboration among the University of Toronto, Baycrest, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and the University Health Network. TDRA is working together to better understand, prevent and treat dementia by creating a stronger link between basic science and clinical research, embedding research into care, improving outreach and education to the community, and increasing the efficiency of collaborative research processes across the city.
The TDRA’s work is focused in two priority areas: preventing dementia and the standardization of dementia care. The TDRA works closely with researchers, clinicians, people with dementia and their families to advance city-wide research and innovation in these two areas.
Some of TDRA’s ongoing initiatives within these priority areas include:
Creating and implementing a standardized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol for people with memory problems across Toronto
Facilitating city-wide legal agreements to facilitate collaborative research processes
Bringing together basic and clinical researchers to address dementia across all stages
Conducting and supporting research activities on important themes and approaches
Improving participant engagement and recruitment into dementia studies within Toronto
Providing outreach and education about dementia research to the community.