37 Kent Street
Woolloongabba QLD 4102
Australia
Dr Kenneth Rockwood Biography
Kenneth Rockwood is Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Dalhousie University, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Investigator and an active staff physician in the Department of Medicine at Capital Health, Halifax.
As the Kathryn Allen Weldon Professor of Alzheimer Research, he has a longstanding interest in dementia and delirium. He is also a leading authority on frailty, focusing his investigations on the complexity of frailty, and what can be termed as ‘clinico-mathematical correlation’. He has published six books and more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Currently, he is co-editor of the 7th edition of Brocklehurst’s Textbook of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology. He is the principal investigator of the Research to Action Program in Dementia (RAPID), a national, multicentre project to provide better care for people with dementia by facilitating and carrying out translational research and knowledge translation.
In addition to his work as a scientist, professor and physician, Professor Rockwood established the Artist-in-Residence Program at the Memory Disability Clinic in the QEII Health Sciences Centre. Started in 1998, this unique partnership with artists in Halifax is meant “to instil more humanity into the clinical world of medicine.” Each year a local artist is invited to help describe the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease by experiencing the struggle alongside patients, their families, caregivers and physicians. The art helps bring out the human stories behind the disease as well as allowing the clinicians to see themselves through their patients’ eyes.
Kenneth Rockwood is a native of Newfoundland and became a Doctor of Medicine at Memorial University in 1985. He is married to Dr. Susan Howlett, Professor of Pharmacology at Dalhousie. They have two sons, Michael and James.
Talk Summary
A lot happens at the molecular and cellular levels as we age. A recent review in Cell identified nine hallmarks of ageing, including genomic instability, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence and stem cell exhaustion. Ageing is also associated with the accumulation of macroscopically visible deficits across the lifespan, typically manifesting as the frail older person with multiple co-morbidities who presents to the emergency department with falls.
This seminar considers how changes at the level of the cell scale up to what we see as symptoms, signs, diseases and disabilities. Ken Rockwood and Susan Howlett are internationally recognised for both their frailty research and for their expertise in knowledge translation. The presentation is therefore guaranteed to be informative, entertaining and highly relevant across lab-based and clinical specialties.
