Interesting question, who’s responsibility is it? Mine or ours? A June 25, 2026 Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) announcement (received via email) announces a virtual panel addressing that question in the context of dementia prevention,
June 29 [2026]: Dementia Prevention in Canada: Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility
Join us on June 29 [2026] from 11:00–12:30 PM EST for an engaging virtual panel on dementia prevention in Canada. Under the theme “Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility,” experts from research, healthcare, innovation, and policy will explore how dementia prevention extends beyond individual lifestyle choices to include the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape people’s ability to act. Drawing on recent international survey findings, the discussion will examine barriers to brain-healthy living, the role of public policy and technology, and how Canada can build a more equitable and brain-healthy society through shared responsibility and coordinated action.
Here’s a more fulsome description along with logistics and speaker information, from the Dementia Prevention in Canada: Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility event page,
This panel will examine dementia prevention in Canada through the lens of a central tension: while growing evidence shows that individuals can reduce their risk through lifestyle and health-related factors, the ability to act on that knowledge is shaped by the systems and environments around them. Framed by the theme “Individual Risk, Collective Responsibility,” the discussion will explore how dementia prevention should be understood not only as a matter of personal responsibility, but also as a societal and policy imperative that requires coordinated action across healthcare, communities, and governments.
A central focus of the conversation will be where responsibility for prevention should sit, and how to avoid placing undue burden on individuals, without ignoring the importance of individual agency. Panelists will consider how Canadians understand modifiable dementia risk, what can be learned from other public health campaigns, and how technology may support brain-healthy choices. Informed by a recent international survey of 2000+ adults, the panel will examine barriers that Canadians encounter when they consider brain healthy choices, as well as system-level gaps that exist in community design and service access that, if addressed, could support population health outcomes and more resilient health systems at scale.
Attendees will gain insight into how dementia prevention can be framed in ways that are both actionable and equitable, recognizing individual responsibility while confronting the structural realities that shape people’s options, including socioeconomic inequality, geography, transportation, and access to care and supportive services. By bringing together perspectives from clinical care, research, innovation, community-based interventions, and aging policy, the session will surface the practical and ethical questions at the heart of prevention: what individuals can reasonably be expected to do, what systems must enable, and how Canada can build a more brain-healthy society through shared responsibility.
Details
- Date: Jun 29 [2026]
- Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EDT
- Event Category: Virtual Sessions
- Website: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hZFOwX-9S6GxcII83wklUA
Venue
- Zoom
…
Spaakers
Dr. Allison Sekuler
President & Chief Scientist, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI); Sandra A. Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, Rotman Research Institute.
Dr. Samir K. Sinha
Dr. Samir Sinha is a Geriatrician and Clinician Scientist at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Director of Health Policy Research at Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Medicine.
A Rhodes Scholar, Samir is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. As a former member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council and a current member of its Minsterial Advisory Board on Dementia he helped to develop and now oversee Canada’s National Dementia Strategy and recently led the successful development of Canada’s new National Long-Term Care Services Standard.
Internationally, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales. Furthermore, as a longstanding member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council and a recently appointed member of the Board of Trustees for HelpAge International, he remains committed to supporting the implementation and administration of unique, integrated and innovative models of geriatric care and support that reduce disease burden, improve access and capacity and ultimately promote health.
Dr. Dallas Seitz
Dr. Dallas Seitz is the Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) where he also holds the Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Late-Life Mental Health Research. He is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry.
He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health and past president of Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry.
He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Saskatchewan (2003) and his postgraduate residency training in Psychiatry at the Queen’s University in 2008. He completed a research and clinical fellowship at the University of Toronto at Baycrest Centre and Women’s College Hospital. Dr. Seitz completed his PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto in 2014.
Dr. Nicole Anderson
Dr. Anderson is a Senior Scientist, Director of the Ben & Hilda Katz Interprofessional Research Program in Geriatric and Dementia Care, and Associate Scientific Director of the Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness in the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education [Toronto]. She is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Medicine (Psychiatry) at the University of Toronto. She is a registered clinical neuropsychologist. Her research focuses on how memory is affected by healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment, and on cognitive and lifestyle interventions to promote brain health and reduce dementia risk.
Dr. Saskia Sivananthan
Dr. Saskia Sivananthan, an internationally recognized strategy and policy advisor on dementia care, is the co-founder and CEO of the Brainwell Institute [in Toronto] – a nonprofit dementia policy think tank. She is also an Affiliate Professor at McGill University.
She was formerly Chief Research and KTE [knowledge transfer and exchange] Officer at the Alzheimer Society of Canada where she oversaw a tripling of funding for dementia research, and created multiple platforms for people living with dementia to engage in research, advocate and co-design programming for their needs. In 2020 she was appointed by the Federal Minister of Health to the ministerial advisory board on dementia.
Previously, Dr. Sivananthan served as a senior strategy and policy advisor consulting for the World Health Organization (WHO) on its overall global dementia strategy. Dr. Sivananthan co-drafted the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia which was unanimously adopted at the 170th World Health Assembly by all 194 member-states. This plan served as the template for Canada’s National Dementia Strategy. It identified key priorities and established international goals to fight stigma and advance dementia care.
Very, very Toronto. Given that the CSPC usually gets at least one member of their virtual panels from another part of the country, I’m wondering if they assembled this group very quickly and relied on locally based experts.
Finally, Register Here.