Breakthrough Breakfast: Innovations in Brain Research
March 11, 2025 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
The next Breakthrough Breakfast event will focus on brain health and wellness research. It will take place on Tuesday March 11 from 7:30-9:00 a.m. at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.
The speakers will include Drs. Ruth Ann Marrie, Sultan Darvesh, and Alon Friedman.
This Breakthrough Breakfast will take place during Brain Awareness Week and focus on highlighting cutting-edge brain health research, showcasing innovative approaches to diagnosing and treating neurological conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and a variety of neurodegenerative diseases.
Ticket information can be found here. If you have attended a Breakthrough Breakfast in the past as a guest and are excited about this upcoming topic, we encourage you to consider purchasing a ticket to join us
Dr. Sultan Darvesh
Dr. Darvesh is a Professor and Staff Neurologist with the Department of Medicine (Neurology and Geriatric Medicine), QEII Health Sciences Centre, and cross-appointed in the Department of Medical Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.
He holds the Irene MacDonald Sobey Chair in Curative Approaches to Alzheimer’s Disease. He combines basic and clinical research related to neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and dementia. As a medicinal chemist and a behavioural neurologist, his research focuses on the development of neurodegenerative disorders. He is specifically concerned with developing diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease. He has published more than 115 publications and is an inventor of over 10 patents and one copyright.
Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie
Dr. Marrie is a Professor of Medicine and holds the Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Research Chair at Dalhousie. She serves as the Vice Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the International Progressive MS Alliance.
Dr. Marrie is the former Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee for MS Canada, Past Chair of the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2023 she was awarded the Barancik Prize for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research. Her research aims to understand the influence of comorbid diseases on a range of multiple sclerosis (MS)-related health outcomes. Other areas of research interest include etiologic factors for MS, patient-reported outcomes, women’s health and prodromal MS.
Dr. Alon Friedman
Dr. Friedman is a Professor of Neuroscience and the Dennis Chair in Epilepsy Research at Dalhousie University and a Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Dr. Friedman's research focuses on the interactions between vascular and neuronal systems, particularly microvascular pathology and blood-brain barrier dysfunction in brain injuries, epilepsy, and neurodegeneration. With more than 175 peer-reviewed publications and supervision of more than 60 post-graduate students, his work has significantly advanced the understanding and treatment of brain injuries. His multidisciplinary teams are pioneering new diagnostic and therapeutic methodologies for brain injury management.
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