Manuel Montero-Odasso is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Western Ontario and Director of the “Gait & Brain Lab” at Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario. He is a geriatrician and clinician-scientist at the Lawson Health Research Institute and serves as team leader at the CCNA and team co-leader at the Ontario Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (ONDRI).

He leads the Gait and Brain Health Program with the goal of understanding mechanisms and potential treatments of mobility and cognitive decline in older individuals. He focuses on gait performance and has established the use of “motor biomarkers” like slowing gait and dual-task gait to predict frailty, falls, and dementia in older people. He has initiated clinical trials applying the novel approach of “improving cognition to improve mobility” using pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches such as physical exercise, cognitive training and non-invasive brain stimulation. As team leader in CCNA (Canada Research Dementia Strategy) he is focusing in multi-domain clinical trials, including the SYNERGIC Trial (www.synergictrial.com), to delay dementia in older adults at risk (MCI spectrum) using physical exercises combined with cognitive training, and nutritional interventions (Vitamin D).

Amanda graduated with an MA in Anthropology from the University of Alberta with a focus on medicine and health. She conducted an ethnographic study investigating the integration of traditional Tibetan and Western medical systems in Bhutan. Prior to joining the CCNA in 2015, Amanda worked as a Research Coordinator for the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.