Dr. William E. Reichman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Baycrest and Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation
Baycrest and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) are pleased to announce that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. William E. Reichman, has recently been appointed co-chair of the newly established Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia, by the federal government.
The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, federal Minister of Health, announced today at the National Dementia Conference in Ottawa, the establishment of a Ministerial Advisory Board to advise her on matters related to the health of persons living with dementia. The Board, which will be co-chaired by Dr. Reichman, and Pauline Tardif, Chief Executive Officer of the Alzheimer Society of Canada, will represent people living with dementia, their caregivers, researchers, advocacy groups, and health care professionals.
The National Dementia Conference, taking place May 14 – 15, is bringing together a broad range of stakeholder groups and partners from across the country to help inform a national dementia strategy.
“I am honoured to join the Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia as its co-chair and work together with the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and other members,” said Dr. Reichman. “The increasing prevalence of dementia is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. This strategy presents an opportunity to integrate the shared perspectives of all stakeholders impacted by dementia, and to build on the innovation assets we have across the country. Together, we must ensure that key supports will be in place to address the needs of the aging population. The federal government’s commitment to developing a national dementia strategy is a great step forward for all Canadians today, for generations to come.”
The National Dementia Conference and the establishment of the Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia fulfills two key components of the National Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias Act.
Dr. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier academic health sciences centres focused on aging, seniors care and brain function and home to the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation. Baycrest also recently announced it will become Headquarters and Research Network Centre for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, the premier research hub for all aspects of research involving neurodegenerative diseases that affect cognition in aging – including Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Reichman is also Professor of Psychiatry on the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation and is President-elect of the International Psychogeriatric Association. He has advised several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery.
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.
