About Us
What is Cogtale?
CogTale is a comprehensive database and repository which provides easy access to information about the results from trials in the field of cognitive interventions for older adults.
CogTale hopes to provide researchers and members of the public with clear, evidence-based information to help answer questions about cognition-oriented treatments.
With Cogtale, you can:
Perform a Literature search on topics related to cognition-oriented treatments for older adults. Information about methodological features, risk of bias and summary of results are published and easy to access for each study.
Select studies to combine to create an automatic meta-analysis and have a report sent to you with the results.
Browse our resources to find information about cognitive treatments for older adults.
CogTale is currently in a ‘pilot’ phase (Beta Release), which means that data and articles are being continuously added to the platform, and the website is subject to regular change.
Meet the CogTale team
Our team consists of leading clinical researchers located around the world, passionate about developing effective lifestyle interventions to prevent or minimise cognitive decline.
Alex Bahar-Fuchs, Ph.D.
Project Director
Deakin University, Australia
Benjamin Hampstead, Ph.D., ABPP/CN
The University of Michigan, USA
Sylvie Belleville, Ph.D.
Université de Montreal, Canada
Tzvi Dwolatzky, MD
Rambam Health Care, Israel
Sharon is an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain and the Department of Neurology at at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons).
Sharon trained in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology at the University of São Paulo before joining Columbia University as Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Prof. Yaakov Stern, where she investigates reserve & resilience factors to promote healthy cognitive aging and dementia prevention.
Sharon’s research has been focused on non-pharmacological interventions to promote brain/mental health, enhance cognition, health behaviors and quality of life in older adults, including those at risk of Alzheimer`s disease and Related Dementia (ADRD). Having conducted clinical trials in Brazil and in the US, Sharon has a particular interest in sociocultural and environmental factors that influence health behaviors and interventions, as well as disparities/inequities in mental health, aging, and dementia.
Amit Lampit, Ph.D.
University of Melbourne, Australia
Courtney Chesser, BPsy(Hons)
Deakin University, Australia
Isabelle Burke, BA, GradDipPsychAdv
Deakin University, Australia
Advisory Board
CogTale has an advisory board consisting of clinicians, research experts in the field of cognition-oriented treatments, media personnel, and consumer representatives.
Bobby Redman
Bobby Redman is a retired psychologist, diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2015. Since then, Bobby has become a passionate dementia advocate, determined to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers.
Bobby Redman is a retired psychologist, diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2015. Since then, Bobby has become a passionate dementia advocate, determined to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers.
Bobby is Chair of the Dementia Australia Advisory Committee, working for and with people living with dementia around Australia. She also sits on numerous committees, focussing on public health and disability access and inclusion on the Central Coast, NSW, where she lives. Bobby strongly supports dementia research and over the 6 years has been involved in numerous research projects, both as a participant and as an advisor and/or investigator.
Bobby has strong community ties and is an active Rotarian, holding the position of Rotary District Chair of the Dementia Awareness and Support Committee. Bobby was greatly honoured to be a NSW finalist for Senior Australian of the Year, 2020 for her community and dementia advocacy work.
Erica Krieger
Erica is a former carer for her grandmother who lived with Alzhiemer’s Disease. She is currently a full-time law student and chair of the Brisbane North Dementia Alliance and a Dementia Advocate with Dementia Australia. Erica hopes that her lived experience as a carer for a loved one with dementia can offer insight towards dementia research projects.
Miyabi Bradley
Miya feels lucky to have cared for her father, an American who had lived in Japan for 50 years. Upon his diagnosis of dementia, he moved to Australia to be closer to his daughter, leaving his friends and community behind. Miya assisted her father to live independently in Australia for as long as possible, picking up different tips and tricks to provide her father with the best living environment. When Miya’s father needed full time care, Miya moved around the corner so she could visit him daily.
Miya feels lucky to have cared for her father, an American who had lived in Japan for 50 years. Upon his diagnosis of dementia, he moved to Australia to be closer to his daughter, leaving his friends and community behind. Miya assisted her father to live independently in Australia for as long as possible, picking up different tips and tricks to provide her father with the best living environment. When Miya’s father needed full time care, Miya moved around the corner so she could visit him daily.
To learn more about dementia, and to better connect with her father, Miya began participating in dementia research activities which her father made a fun experience for them both. Upon her father’s passing, aged 91, Miya wished to remain involved with Dementia Australia and help educate people by getting the word out there and sharing experiences. Since becoming an advocate in 2016 Miya has been involved with numerous research activities, the Connecting Peers program and various speaking events.
Since relocating to New York, Miya remains connected to the Woollahra Dementia Alliance through the Holdsworth community and is seeking to join a dementia support group in the USA. While Miya and her father’s experience was often challenging, she views their final years together as a beautiful experience which she is forever grateful to have had.
Dubhglas Taylor
Dubhglas (Dubhg) Taylor is a retired social worker psychotherapist/educator and now a Dementia Advocate and Counsellor who partners with people living with dementia and Dementia Service Organisations to raise awareness and advocate for dementia issues.
Dubhglas (Dubhg) Taylor is a retired social worker psychotherapist/educator and now a Dementia Advocate and Counsellor who partners with people living with dementia and Dementia Service Organisations to raise awareness and advocate for dementia issues.
After spending over forty-five years working with community organisations, Dubhg is a co-founder of the Dementia Awareness Advocate Team (DAAT), and a Dementia Advocate with Dementia Australia. He is Chair to the Redlands Coast Dementia Community (RCDC).
Dubhg is the care partner to his wife, Eileen Taylor He has been involved in many research projects over the years both as a participant and a co-researcher, hence his support to Step UP for Research. He understands the importance of connecting with the heartbeat of real people and communicating understanding and support. Dubhg holds an M. Soc Sc (Counselling) from QUT.
Dr. Simon Grof
Dr Simon Grof has been working as a Consultant Geriatrician with Eastern Health since 2014 and is a Clinical Director of their Care@Home program. In 2022, Simon became the inaugural Chief Medical Officer at Jewish Care Victoria (a provider that runs residential aged care and in-home care, amongst other things for the community). This role provides strong medical leadership at both the governance and operational level, and a partnership with General Practitioners who visit the Residential Aged Care Homes.
Dr Simon Grof has been working as a Consultant Geriatrician with Eastern Health since 2014 and is a Clinical Director of their Care@Home program. In 2022, Simon became the inaugural Chief Medical Officer at Jewish Care Victoria (a provider that runs residential aged care and in-home care, amongst other things for the community). This role provides strong medical leadership at both the governance and operational level, and a partnership with General Practitioners who visit the Residential Aged Care Homes.
Simon is passionate about quality, safety and person-centred care and is involved in medical education and clinical supervision of junior doctors.
Simon has recently completed an Associate Fellowship through Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and is a graduate of the Williamson Community Leadership Program (2017).
Dr. Alistair Stark
Dr Alastair Stark trained in medicine in the UK at the University of Oxford and migrated to Australia in 2005. He has been a GP Principal at Westcare Family Medical Centre since 2007, and was a founding partner of Royal Park Medical in 2017.
Dr Alastair Stark trained in medicine in the UK at the University of Oxford and migrated to Australia in 2005. He has been a GP Principal at Westcare Family Medical Centre since 2007, and was a founding partner of Royal Park Medical in 2017.
Dr Stark’s areas of interest include chronic disease management, aged care and palliative care. Dr Stark is a supervisor of GP Registrars and was awarded Australian GP Supervisor of the Year by GPET in 2013. He has also served on the Board of Governance of GP Divisions and Medicare Locals.
Dr. Scott McDonald
Dr Scott McDonald originally completed an undergraduate degree in Medical Biochemistry, then a PhD in visual perception, and subsequently worked in neuroscience research for 12 years, in the Max-Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics, The University of Sydney and UNSW. Between 2014 and 2018 he retrained, culminating in the completion of a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology.
Dr Scott McDonald originally completed an undergraduate degree in Medical Biochemistry, then a PhD in visual perception, and subsequently worked in neuroscience research for 12 years, in the Max-Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics, The University of Sydney and UNSW. Between 2014 and 2018 he retrained, culminating in the completion of a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology.
Dr McDonald subsequently worked in the Royal Hobart Hospital and the University of Tasmania’s ISLAND clinic.
In the Royal Hobart Hospital, Dr McDonald worked across multiple medical specialities, providing neuropsychological assessment, assessment of decision-making capacity, advisory work, and quality improvement, amongst other activities.
At The ISLAND Clinic – a multidisciplinary “one-stop-shop” designed to rapidly investigate cognitive changes in the older adults – Dr McDonald developed fast neuropsychological assessment and scoring protocols, assessed patients’ cognition, and trialled a cognitive rehabilitation workshop.
Dr McDonald is now a Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Ageing at Newcastle University, UK.
Support
CogTale is a not-for-profit project. CogTale is currently funded through a National Insitute of Health (NIH) R35 subaward. Dr. Bahar-Fuchs was previously supported by the Dementia Australia Research Foundation (formerly Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation), the Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration (DCRC) and a Boosting Dementia Leadership Research Fellowship from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, to establish the beta version of this platform. More funding is required to maintain and improve the existing platform and to continuously enter new content. Should you wish to provide support (one-off or ongoing) to the CogTale program, please get in touch, via our contact form.
How can I use CogTale?
Search our database and perform a meta analysis.
Want to learn more about Evidence Synthesis?
Citizen briefings: summaries of recent findings.