Dr. Kenneth Rockwood uses new tools and perspectives to study Alzheimer and aging
From drug trials to help improve the lives of people with Alzheimer, to mathematical models that precisely describe everyday happenings, Dr. Kenneth Rockwood is revolutionizing medical research, changing the worldview of Alzheimer Disease, and shedding light on issues of aging.
Dr. Rockwood was the first to measure the effectiveness of a drug against patients’ own goals – a seemingly simple patient-centred approach that had never been tried before. “We asked people what they wanted to improve by using the drug and then measured its effectiveness against those goals,” says Dr. Rockwood, Kathryn Allen Weldon Chair in Alzheimer Research and professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie Medical School. “In my view new drugs have to respond to what patients want them to do.”
The study showed that Alzheimer Disease affects more than memory – a new understanding with huge implications. “It impairs a person’s initiative judgement and other intellectual and emotional abilities which are controlled by the front part of the brain,” explains Dr. Rockwood. These findings led him in a new research direction. He has begun working on imaging studies of brain regions affected by Alzheimer. Through this study, Dr. Rockwood has also changed how drugs’ effects are assessed in a range of neurological and cognitive disorders.
Another focus of Dr. Rockwood’s work is the use of mathematical models in medical research. For example, he and his colleagues develop, analyze and manipulate mathematical models to help explain why frail people fall.
“Frailty is a symptom of aging and is one of the leading causes of disability in seniors,” says Dr. Rockwood. “Statistical models have limited our understanding of how and why people fall. Now, we’re replacing charts and drawings with mathematical equations that precisely describe natural realities. We then use them to analyze how natural realities, like falls, change under different circumstances.”
When applied to previous research done using statistical models, mathematical models helped to explain what were thought to be irregularities. “Mathematical models can be much more precise and exact, making our research and resulting clinical decisions more accurate,” says Dr. Rockwood. “This is the future for many areas of medical research.”