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Clinical trials are an essential step to developing effective treatments for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. These research studies are designed to help test health treatments, including drugs, devices, lifestyle interventions or other therapies, to evaluate their safety and effectiveness.

The Anne & Allan Bank Centre for Clinical Research Trials (CCRT) was created to respond to a growing need to explore and test new therapies to treat and prevent dementia. Our unit is unique in that we explore.

Research participants play a major role in the development of emerging treatments and advancing our knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Led by Dr. Howard Chertkow, the CCRT will work with Baycrest’s physicians, healthcare workers and scientists at the Rotman Research Institute to offer clients a wide range of emerging interventions for older adults with various levels and forms of memory loss, ranging from mild to more severe memory loss.

A variety of interventions are offered through the CCRT, including, but are not limited to:
  • Drug therapies
  • Dietary advice
  • Intense cognitive training and exercise
  • Non-invasive and safe electrical brain stimulation
  • Meditation
  • Light therapy
  • Other non-pharmacological approaches to boost brain function

As a member of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration on Aging (the premier research hub involving neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, that affect memory and thinking during aging), Baycrest’s research participants can also become involved in Canada’s largest dementia study, COMPASS-ND.

All studies offered through the CCRT are first reviewed and approved by the Baycrest Research Ethics Board to ensure that they meet current ethical standards.

Through our partnership with Baycrest staff, local family doctors and specialists and the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, the CCRT welcomes members of the public to collaborate with us on studies that provide hope and potential solutions to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and their loved ones.

Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund
Research at Baycrest has been severely impacted by COVID-19, and we are deeply appreciative that the Government of Canada has recognized this negative impact in the creation of the CRCEF. This funding will help us to maintain staff and essential activities during the pandemic-related slowdown of or interruption to research, and as we resume full research operations under new circumstances. Read more here.