Dementia treatment pioneer Professor Henry Brodaty AO is 2026 Senior Australian of the Year
04/02/2026
Professor Henry Brodaty AO is transforming the diagnosis, care and prevention of dementia - improving countless lives, both in Australia and around the world.
In 1972, Henry’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at just 52 years old. At that time, dementia was poorly understood and often ignored. People living with dementia and carers had little support and no pathway forward. His father’s experience catalysed a lifetime of work that not only revolutionised Henry’s own field of psychiatry, but also the lives of people living with dementia and their families.
In 2012, Henry co-founded the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing and led internationally significant research that enhanced the world’s understanding of risk and prevention.
In January 2025, the results of his landmark Maintain Your Brain study were published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine – and the potential implications were stunning.
Professor Brodaty’s team had recruited more than 6000 older people who showed no signs of dementia, but who had risk factors for the condition. The participants were divided into two roughly equal groups.
The first group received no special treatment but were observed closely. The second group were provided with a specially tailored intervention program that included “brain training”, physical activity, nutrition assistance and psychiatric treatment.
At the end of three years, the study participants who had received the intensive treatment not only had better thinking skills than those who were untreated but also had improved over the period – not deteriorated as would be expected.
Professor Brodaty, second from right, with other winners, the Australian of the Year, astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Local Hero Frank Mitchell, left, and Young Australian of the Year Nedd Brockmann.
When compared with historical clinical trials of dementia prevention, Professor Brodaty’s study had shown the strongest prevention effect of them all. It provided both a scientific triumph – and a challenge.
Steve Robson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Australian National University, asked in The Australian: “How seriously does Australia take dementia as a disease? With hundreds of thousands of Australians affected by conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, and perhaps a million people providing care for those affected, can we rise to the challenge of prevention?
“I hope that Professor Brodaty’s recognition as Senior Australian of the Year will provide the boost necessary for our country to move from one that struggles to resource the treatment of established dementia – to one that strives for prevention.”
