Dr. Roger A. Dixon

Biographical Background

Current Position

Department of Psychology (Science)

Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute (FoMD)

University of Alberta

 

Previous Positions

University of Victoria

Max Planck Institute, Berlin

 

Previous Visiting Appointments

Äldrecentrum, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

 

Advanced Degrees

University of Chicago

Penn State University

RAD, Photo: John Ulan

Contact Information:

 

Mailing Address

Department of Psychology

P-217 Biological Sciences Bldg

University of Alberta

Edmonton, AB

Canada T6G 2E9

 

Email

rdixon@ualberta.ca

Research and Opportunities

Victoria Longitudinal Study (VLS)

Role: Director and Principal Investigator

 

VLS Headquarters and Lab: University of Alberta

Satellite Lab: University of Victoria

 

Overview: A long-term (20+ years) and large-scale longitudinal and epidemiological investigation of biomedical, health, genetic, biological, metabolic, lifestyle, reserve/resilience, demographic, and environmental risk and protective factors influencing
brain and cognitive trajectories toward and away from decline, impairment, and neurodegenerative disease.

 

Funding: National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging) and other partners.

 

Website: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~vlslab/

 

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA)

Roles: Co-Lead Biomarkers Team and Biosamples Platform

CCNA Research Executive Committee

 

Overview: Cross-national observational study deeply phenotyping older adults with multiple types of complaints, impairment, neurodegenerative disease, and dementia. Important goals are to understand how neurodegenerative diseases develop and what can be done to delay or prevent them.

 

Biomarker Data: Includes clinical, core biomarkers, neuro-imaging, genetics, cognitive battery, neurophysiological, functional, dementia risk, and derived omics panels.

 

Cohorts: Cohorts include Cognitively Normal, Subjective Cognitive Impairment,
Mild Cognitive Impairment, Vascular Disease, Mild Alzheimer's Disease, Mixed Etiology,
Lewy Body/Parkinson's Disease, and Frontotemporal Dementia.

 

Biomarkers Team Funding: Alberta Innovates in partnership with
Canadian Institutes of Health Research

 

Website: https://ccna-ccnv.ca/

 

SynAD: Promoting Synergies in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias at the University of Alberta

Role: Principal Investigator

 

Team: Co-PIs: Drs. Jack Jhamandas, Satya Kar, Simonetta Sipione, David Westaway

Co-Is: Drs. Richard Camicioli, Elena Posse de Chaves, Valerie Sim

 

Program: Three main initiatives for enhancing research in ADRD:

Catalyst Grants, Equipment Grants, and Trainee Funding

 

Funding: Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories

University Hospital Foundation

 

Institutional Partner: Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute

 

National Partners: Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging

Campus Alberta Neuroscience

 

Website: http://sites.psych.ualberta.ca/SynAD/

 

Selected Current Professional Activities

Endowed Chair

Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Aging

Tier 1: 2003-2010; 2010-2017
University of Alberta

 

Principal Investigator

VLS Research Grant (R01 AG008235)

National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging)

Website: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~vlslab/

 

Principal Investigator

SynAD Alberta
Website: http://sites.psych.ualberta.ca/SynAD/

 

Steering Committee

Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute
University of Alberta

 

Research Executive Committee

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA)

 

Co-Leader (with P. Bellec)

Biomarkers Team

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA)

 

Co-Leader

Campus Alberta Neuroscience

Healthy Brain Aging and Dementia Group

Website: http://www.albertaneuro.ca/

 

Co-Investigator

  • BRAIN Project (PI Howard Chertkow)
    Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Metabolomics and Alzheimer's (PI Liang Li)
    Canadian Institutes of Health Research

 

Co-Organizer

International Conference on Promoting Healthy Brain Aging
and Preventing Dementia: Research and Translation

Banff, AB, June 2016; 2018; Lake Louise, AB, May 2021

Website: http://can-healthybrains.com/

 

Founder and Coordinator

Alberta Cognitive Neuroscience Group (ACN)

Website: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~acn/

 

Co-PI (with GP McFall) on Research Grants:

  • Polygenic Risk Scores for Cognitive Trajectories
  • Machine Learning Technology in Aging and Dementia
  • Machine Learning Prediction of Parkinson's Disease
    Dementia

 

Selected Recent Professional Activities

President

Division of Adult Development and Aging

American Psychological Association

 

Recognitions

  • Baltes Award (2013-2014)
    Distinguished Research in Aging
    American Psychological Association
  • NIH MERIT Award
    2002-2007; 2007-2012
    U.S. National Institutes of Health
  • Outstanding Alumnus Award
    Penn State University

 

Review Board

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Canadian Research Chairs, Ottawa
  • US National Institutes of Health

 

Chair or Co-Chair

  • Human Research Ethics Committee
    University of Victoria
  • Section on Adult Development and Aging
    Canadian Psychological Association

 

Member

  • Advisory Board
    Alberta Centre on Aging
  • Executive Board
    International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

 

Recent Invited Talks

Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Sweden, UK, USA

 

Co-Organizer

US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine

Conference on Alternative Pathways for Alzheimer's Disease

 

Colleagues and Contexts

Mentors

Paul B. Baltes (Max Planck Institute)

John R. Nesselroade (University of Virginia)

 

Active or Long-term Collaborators

Shea Andrews (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC)

Kaarin Anstey (University of New South Wales and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA))

Lars Bäckman (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

Pierre Bellec (Université de Montréal)

Richard Camicioli (University of Alberta)

Jeremy Caplan (University of Alberta)

Florin Dolcos (Beckman Institute, University of Illinois)

Sanda Dolcos (Psychology, University of Illinois)

Cindy de Frias (University of Texas)

Christopher Hertzog (Georgia Institute of Technology)

David F. Hultsch (University of Victoria)

Jack Jhamandas (University of Alberta)

Margie Lachman (Brandeis University)

Liang Li (University of Alberta)

Stuart MacDonald (University of Victoria)

Jack McArdle (University of Southern California)

G. Peggy McFall (University of Alberta)

Lars-Göran Nilsson (Stockholm University)

Shraddha Sapkota (Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, University of Toronto)

Brent Small (University of South Florida)

Esther Strauss (University of Victoria)

Åke Wahlin (Jönköping University, Sweden)

David Westaway (University of Alberta)

Sandra Wiebe (University of Alberta)

 

Photos

Photo Collection (click to view a small collection of photos, including people,

the local area, and the Rocky Mountains.)

 

 

©2023 Roger Dixon