UW-Parkside to Host Workshop for Families Living with Dementia with Dr. Angela...

Published: October 14, 2024

Featuring speech-language pathologist Dr. Angela Roberts from Western University

SOMERS, WI. - The University of Wisconsin-Parkside College of Social Sciences and Professional Studies, in collaboration with the Professional and Continuing Education Office, as part of the UW-Parkside Guest Lecture Series on Aging, and the Helen Daniels Bader Speaker Event Series supported by Bader Philanthropies, will host Dr. Angela Roberts from Western University in Toronto, Canada, in a presentation entitled "Maintaining Meaningful Communication for Families Living with Dementia."

This free workshop will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 9 a.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. This event offers attendees two Continuing Education Hours (CEHs). Attendees may also attend the presentation virtually via Zoom. This event is free and open to the public.

Join Dr. Roberts as she discusses how cognitive and language impairments associated with dementia lead to changes in communication abilities, which can negatively impact quality of life for both people with dementia and their care partners. Despite these challenges, there are a growing number of options for supporting social connections and better communication for families living with dementia. In this talk, Dr. Roberts will discuss the current science of communication changes in dementia, insights from the Communication Bridge clinical trials program, and practical strategies for supporting communication and social connections for people and families living with dementia.

Dr. Angela Roberts is a speech-language pathologist and holds a joint appointment in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Department of Computer Science at Western University in Toronto, Canada. She is the Canada Research Chair in Data Analytics and Digital Health in Cognitive Aging and Dementia and is a founding Co-Director of Western's Collaborative Specialization in Machine Learning in Health and Biomedical Sciences, as well as a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre of Activity and Aging.

Her impactful research program improves cognitive aging outcomes through rigorously validating connected speech signatures that detect and monitor cognitive decline, building phenotypes and predictive models of cognitive aging trajectories, and developing interventions that address communication challenges experienced by persons with dementia and their families. Her clinical research program uses telehealth service delivery systems that have a global reach. She is the Canadian lead for the SuperAging Research Initiative, a study examining factors associated with exceptional cognitive aging. Her influence extends to health charity organizations as a research board member for Parkinson Canada and an author of internationally distributed patient and family education materials.

Professor Roberts' work is funded by the Ontario Brain Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the National Institutes of Health (U.S.), including an early investigator award from the National Institutes of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

For more information and to register, visit uwp.edu/hhs or by calling or emailing 262-595-3340 or [email protected].

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside is committed to high-quality educational programs, creative and scholarly activities, and services responsive to its diverse student population, and its local, national, and global communities. We are a dynamic learning community grounded in academic excellence and focused on student success, diversity, inclusion, and community engagement. The campus serves as a premier comprehensive public institution and a destination of choice, serving as a focal point of local, regional, and global progress.

Media Contact:

Mallory Evans
Outreach Program Manager, Professional and Continuing Education
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
[email protected]
262-595-2402