Suvarna Alladi is Professor of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. Dr Alladi was a Commonwealth research fellow in cognitive and behavioural neurology at Cambridge UK. She established one of the first memory clinics in India that provided multi-disciplinary care to more than 3000 patients with dementia. Her areas of interest are Frontotemporal dementia, atypical Alzheimer’s disease and vascular cognitive impairment. Dr Alladi’s group coordinated a multicentric study that adapted cognitive tests for different Indian languages and for illiterates. Her work also focuses on investigating the influence of life-course experiences that include bilingualism, education and social engagement on cognitive resilience. In the background of a rapidly rising burden of dementia, creating awareness and organising community support for dementia became a focus of the Alzheimer’s disease NGO www.ardsihyd.org she co-founded.

Dr Alladi has also made an effort to represent priorities of less-developed societies in international platforms and meetings. She is Chair of World Federation of Neurology, Special interest group on Aphasia & Cognitive disorders and Senior Researcher on the multinational project, Strengthening Responses to Dementia in Developing countries (STRiDE).