Dr. Walter Swardfager awarded Canada Research Chair

Congratulations to Dr. Walter Swardfager, who has been awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Pharmacology of Cognitive Neurovascular Disorders through the University of Toronto. Dr. Swardfager, a scientist in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program and the Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery at Sunnybrook Research Institute, is one of 12 U of T researchers who were recently awarded Canada Research Chairs.

“I am very grateful to the Canada Research Chairs program, and the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at U of T, for this support,” says Dr. Swardfager. “It is an exciting opportunity to double efforts in translating work on inflammation and small vessel disease into benefits for those who are affected by dementia, and for those who are at risk of developing it.”

The funding will help Dr. Swardfager and his team further their work on understanding how dysfunction and degeneration of the small vessels of the brain affect cognition and mood.

His lab is currently working to identify unique factors that lead to cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, while also investigating how drugs used to treat diabetes and other vascular risk factors may impact cognitive decline. In addition, the team is currently studying patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias using MRI, genomics and blood biomarkers to implicate inflammatory pathways as new targets for treatment.

On behalf of Sunnybrook, please join us in congratulating Dr. Swardfager!