This September, researchers and clinicians represented the Penn FTD Center at the 14th international conference on frontotemporal dementias hosted in Amsterdam.
Penn FTD Center Co-Director Dr. Corey McMillan organized a successful pre-conference workshop on “Defining the FTD & ALS Spectrum” with Dr. Michael Benatar and International Society of Frontotemporal Dementias’ (ISFTD) President Dr. John van Swieten. Expert presenters included Research Assistant Professor Dr. Katheryn Cousins and Institute on Aging Co-Directors Dr. Edward Lee and Dr. David Wolk.
Over twenty abstracts led by our team were accepted for poster or platform presentations, including:
Dr. Sheina Emrani presented on neuroinflammation and protein aggregation and its relationship to cognitive decline in FTD
Dr. Edward Lee presented on recently published work describing Annexin A11 proteinopathy in FTLD and ALS. Read the published work here.
Dr. Jeff Phillips presented on markers of executive function in FTLD and typical aging based on brain white matter connections
Dr. David Irwin presented on patterns of pathology in FTLD based on ultra-high resolution MRI
Research led by Co-Director Dr. Lauren Massimo was presented at the ancillary Caregiver Day on September 21st. This event is held for family members and professional caregivers.
An AFTD Holloway Travel Scholarship was awarded to Instructor Dr. Anil Wadhwani which enabled them to present their research and connect with a mentor in the FTD research community.
We are excited to share that the next international conference on frontotemporal dementias, ISFTD 2026 (October 7th-11th, 2026), will be hosted in Philadelphia in partnership with the Penn FTD Center. Co-Director Dr. David Irwin will be serving as Chair-Elect of the ISFTD Scientific Program Committee. This event will continue to bring together caregivers and researchers from across the world.
~ Nadia Dehghani, Postdoctoral Researcher
