Society’s immense investment in biomedical science and technology, in conjunction with an increasingly diverse sociocultural landscape, necessitates deliberations on how potential discoveries in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease are perceived and utilized across cultures. This lecture focused on community-based research with a First Nation population in Canada that is affected by a hereditary form of early onset Alzheimer disease (EOFAD). I have explored the intersections of Western knowledge, traditional teachings, and culturally specific understandings of EOFAD. By honouring the unique values and priorities of diverse communities and negotiating the challenges of integrating non-Western based practices into an existing infrastructure of research and health care, wellness, suffering, and the delivery of optimal care can be addressed in an inclusive and culturally relevant way.
Judy Illes is an internationally renowned scholar at the University of British Columbia where she holds a chair in Neurology as well as the Cancada Research Chair in Neuroethics. Furthermore, she is Director of the National Core for Neuroethics at the University of British Columbia. She is co-founder and Governing Board Member of the International Neuroethics Society and a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.
Her main research areas are ethical, legal, social and policy challenges in the field between neurosciences and biomedical ethics.
Specifically, she has undertaken studies concerning
Prof. Illes also leads a research program to improve the literacy of neuroscience.
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