PI: Chengxuan Qiu, chengxuan.qiu@ki.se

The goal of this project is to facilitate the collaboration between Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) and to bridge gaps in knowledge about health in aging in Asian and European populations. To attain this goal, we have invited Senior Researcher Dr. Lei Feng of NUS to conduct 6-months of research at the Aging Research Center (ARC), KI. Dr. Feng has training in psychiatric and psychological medicine. He specializes in geriatric and psychiatric epidemiology with special focus on the psychiatric epidemiology of neurocognitive disorders (e.g., dementia) in Asian populations.

During Dr. Feng’s visit, we will clarify several key issues of aging and health, especially with regard to disparities in time trends and determinants of cognitive aging and dementia in Asian and Nordic populations. To achieve this, we will hold a public lecture at KI on “Nutritional and metabolic determinants of healthy aging in Asian populations,” organize a brainstorming seminar on the theme of “ethnic differences in risk and protective factors for dementia,” and carry out a research project on “The time trends in cognitive disorders in Asian populations.” These issues are critical for developing intervention strategies to postpone cognitive decline and onset of dementia that are specific to different ethnic groups, such as the Asian and European populations. Dr. Feng’s visit will strengthen ARC’s multidisciplinary research by discussing and initiating research on sociocultural and ethnic disparities in aging, health, and dementia.

The project is funded by Forte, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare.