Background and Objectives

Dementia Trials Australia (DTAus) is a clinical research body, officially formed in 1999 under the name Australasian Consortium of Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research (AC4R), in order to bring together all centres throughout Australasia involved in treatment studies for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The DTAus members cover a wide range of specialties including geriatric medicine, neurology, psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychogeriatric, neurobiology, nuclear medicine, and neuropathology. The DTAus effective network of sites has experience in phase II, III and IV clinical studies and provides a professional interface between industry and clinical investigators involved in cognitive research.

In 1994 a number of leading clinicians with a common research interest in the dementias met at the Australian Society of Geriatric Medicine meeting in Canberra, setting in motion what was to become AC4R. David Ames, Henry Brodaty, and Leon Flicker played important roles in the bringing together of a group of clinical researchers to share information and provide a professional interface with the pharmaceutical industry. The creation of AC4R coincided with a series of significant changes in the care of patients with dementia, for example, the establishment of specialised memory clinics, improved methods for assessing people with dementia, encouraging participation in clinical trials for AD and other dementias and the development of a screening methodology. In 2020, the group decided a change of name was necessary and are now known as Dementia Trials Australia (DTAus).

DTAus Objectives

  • Facilitate collaborative clinical cognitive research in Australasia
  • Establish a forum for the exchange of information relevant to research in cognitive disorders
  • Consider and make recommendations upon methodologies of clinical cognitive research and to advocate for appropriate treatment of clinical cognitive disorders.

  • Annual Scientific meeting and forum for trial staff to discuss their issues.
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