PHRN Linkage Luminaries webinar with Professor Leon Flicker, UWA

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Linkage Luminaries webinar with Professor Leon Flicker

PHRN is excited to host our next webinar for 2022 in our "Linkage Luminaries" webinar series with Professor Leon Flicker from the University of Western Australia on Thursday 30 June 2022 at 12noon AEST, 10am AWST.

Professor Leon Flicker’s research within UWA’s Medical School focuses on the major health issues of older people, exploring falls, depression and cognitive impairment as well as healthy ageing.

Professor Flicker is a key opinion leader in health and ageing and has published more than 470 peer-reviewed articles; he is highly cited with over 28,000 citations. He has received continuous funding support from the NHMRC through multiple research grants since 1996.

He has conducted numerous studies about frailty and successful ageing and researched the health needs of older Indigenous Australians. This latter research led to the validation of the Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA) tool, which is used throughout Western Australia, the Northern Territory and far North Queensland and has been adapted for Indigenous populations internationally.

Through use of the KICA tool, researchers have identified a five-fold higher rate of dementia in Indigenous compared to non-Indigenous Australians. This vulnerable population with high needs as they age continues to be involved in research efforts to help determine the modifiable risk factors to help prevent cognitive impairment and frailty in older Indigenous people. The research also helped develop and test a new service model for older Aboriginal people.

Professor Flicker’s work on a model of community services in the Kimberley was judged to be one of the 10 best National Health and Medical Research Council research projects in 2012. The impact of this research is continuing to be felt in these regional areas.

Professor Flicker regularly shares information about conditions of ageing and successful ageing to health professionals and the community groups. As well as research dissemination through publications and conference presentations, he regularly advocates on behalf of older people. He also provides advice to government through expert reference groups and contributes to professional associations. He is frequently interviewed by the media.

In 2017 Professor Flicker was honoured with an Officer of an Order of Australia for his contributions to geriatric medicine and dementia prevention and care.

To register, please click here