Lighting a candle in the darkness

Professor Henry Brodaty AO is a researcher, clinician, policy advisor, and strong advocate for people with dementia and their carers. 

At the University of New South Wales, Sydney, he is Scientia Professor of Ageing and Mental Health, and co‑director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA). 

Prof Brodaty is a senior psychogeriatrician at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, is co-chair of the Clinical Quality Register in the Australian Dementia Network, and he serves on multiple committees for the New South Wales and Australian governments as well as the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 1979, Prof Brodaty was working as a psychiatrist when his father died from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 59. 

At the time, dementia was poorly understood and often ignored. People living with dementia and carers had little support and no pathway forward. 

His father’s experience catalysed a lifetime of work that not only revolutionised Prof Brodaty’s own field of psychiatry, but also the lives of people living with dementia and their families. 

“It had a big effect on me,” he said. “I got involved in setting up the Alzheimer’s Association, now called Dementia Australia, became involved in research, and now in prevention of dementia as well, and continuing to work clinically.

“In 2012 Professor Perminder Sachdev and I established the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales. There were just two of us who did this, and now we have over 60 people all focusing on different aspects [of dementia]. 

“[We are] looking at the genetics, looking at changes in the proteins in the blood, looking at brain imaging, looking at the social determinants of health, and we are also involved in helping people manage the behavioural changes that occur in dementia.”

Prof Brodaty has led internationally significant research that enhanced the world’s understanding of dementia risk and prevention. His large Maintain Your Brain trial demonstrated that straightforward, cost-effective, targeted interventions can profoundly delay onset and even prevent dementia. 

Now, at 78, Prof Brodaty is transforming the diagnosis, care, and prevention of dementia—improving countless lives, both in Australia and around the world. 

“Dementia is a national health priority,” he said. “There are over 430,000 people with dementia in Australia now, and with the ageing of our society, that’s set to double by mid-century. And we can do something about that. By attending to lifestyle risk factors, we can improve people’s cognition and delay the onset of dementia.

“We need a national healthy brain promotion program for all Australians, with awareness, with online coaching, with techniques for people to improve their brain health. 

“Dementia has been an area of darkness and we shouldn’t protest about the darkness—we should light a candle.”