We are excited to share the latest developments at the World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD) Network as of January 2024.
WYLD has now been formally established as a not-for-profit entity, officially registered in Luxembourg as World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD) a.s.b.l. (association sans but lucratif, ref. F13167). This new formal structure is a major step forward, enabling us to improve our operations, strengthen global partnerships, and broaden our impact in dementia care.
With this transition, we’ve focused on selecting new leaders to bring fresh perspectives to steer our strategic direction. Following an extensive search for new leadership, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Lucía Crivelli, Ph.D., as the new Chair, and Dr. Jorge Llibre Guerra, MD, MS, as the Vice-Chair of the World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD) Network.
Together, Lucia and Jorge will lead WYLD into its next chapter, upholding our mission of empowering young leaders to create a better world for individuals living with dementia, their families, and their communities. This will involve providing a platform for young professionals in the field of dementia globally, facilitating their training, fostering connections, and supporting their career development.
We express our thanks to Melissa Chan, our outgoing President, for her leadership and support of WYLD. Her contributions over the past years have been invaluable, particularly in establishing governance structures, strategising succession, and collaborating with key partners to finalise and execute important collaborations. Melissa, along with Dr. Anja Leist, Ph.D., a founding member of WYLD, has played an instrumental role in transitioning WYLD into its formal structure, paving the way for the new leadership to advance the organisation. We also extend our appreciation to our global volunteers and leaders whose contributions have been essential to WYLD’s journey.
As Melissa and Anja continue to serve on the WYLD board, we warmly welcome Lucia and Jorge, who will play an important role in driving our mission forward. We look forward to our continued collaboration with diverse stakeholders and fostering collaborative projects among the next generation of leaders in dementia.
We encourage you to be a part of this exciting new chapter. Whether you’re a long-standing member or new to our network, your involvement is key to our collective success. Reach out to learn how you can contribute to our initiatives, participate in upcoming events, or simply share your ideas and insights. Connect with us here.
Read more on the detailed profiles of our new leadership team below.
Learn more about the WYLD structure and team here.
Dr. Lucía Crivelli – Chair
Dr. Crivelli leads the Neuropsychology department at FLENI in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her team is committed to both research and clinical practice. She also teaches as an Associate Professor of Neuropsychology at Maimonides University and is engaged in research with CONICET in Argentina. Her work is primarily centered on identifying early methods to detect and prevent cognitive decline and dementia, with a special focus on developing countries.
Dr. Crivelli plays a key role in the LatAm FINGERS project, a major initiative in Latin America aimed at dementia prevention. Her efforts in this project involve collaborating with leading experts and institutions across 12 countries in the region, contributing to the development of this groundbreaking lifestyle intervention program.
In her role with the WHO’s Neurology and COVID-19 Global Forum, Dr. Crivelli is focused on understanding the long-term impacts of the pandemic. Her research includes studying the cognitive effects of COVID-19 and the mental health challenges of social isolation. She has also been a pioneer in tele-neuropsychology in Latin America during the pandemic, creating essential guidelines for this emerging field.
Dr. Jorge Llibre Guerra – Vice-Chair
Dr. Jorge Llibre Guerra is a behavioral neurologist interested in global health and dementia prevention. Jorge’s research focuses on gene-by-environment pathways implicated in neurodegeneration to identify novel targets to improved disease management.
Jorge Llibre Guerra completed his medical training at the Medical University of Havana followed by residency in neurology at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery. In 2016, he joined the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF and received fellowship training in Behavioral Neurology and Global Mental Health. Since 2018, Dr. Llibre joined the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) at Washington University as a postdoctoral fellow and transitioned to assistant professor in neurology. In his role as the associate director for DIAN, he aims to expand clinical trials and observational studies to individuals with familial AD. Llibre also serves as associate medical director of the DIAN trial unit. He provides safety oversight to DIAN-TU’s portfolio of clinical trials.
Dr.Llibre has led significant progress to estimate the burden of neurodegenerative diseases in Hispanic populations. Recent work focuses on the influence of life course risk/protective factors on AD age at onset, cognitive decline, and biomarker rate of change. Llibre has received research funding from the National Institute of Health, World Federation of Neurology, Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Alzheimer Association.
Melissa Chan – Advisor
Melissa Chan works with tri-sector partners (business, government and nonprofit) in health and social care to spearhead service design, knowledge translation, and go-to-market projects. She is currently at the University of Luxembourg, leading the co-development of a brain health workplace programme with companies. Melissa’s work covers areas in brain health, ageing, dementia, and carer support – particularly in the intersection of research and translation into practice and in bringing evidence-based interventions to diverse populations.
She has led multiple initiatives related to care and support delivery for dementia, including CARA by Dementia Singapore, a national platform to facilitate the safe return of people living with dementia. Melissa is the Founder of Project We Forgot, a platform for carers that provides support resources across the dementia care journey.
She was previously with ECON Healthcare Group and Homage, an on-demand technology care solution, where she worked with corporations, government agencies, healthcare institutions, and social service organisations in Singapore and Malaysia. She is a Global Atlantic Fellow with the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, and a board member of the World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD) Network.
Prof. Dr Anja Leist – Advisor
Dr Anja Leist is Associate Professor in Public Health and Ageing and Vice-Head of the Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality at the University of Luxembourg. Her research focuses on cognitive ageing and dementia from a social and behavioural (risk reduction) perspective and is funded among others by the European Research Council.
The five-year CRISP project investigates contextual-level influences on cognitive ageing and dementia with a focus on inequalities related to education, socioeconomic status, and gender. Jointly with Prof. Rejko Krüger and Prof. Paul Wilmes, she co-leads an interdisciplinary project on the links between the microbiome, socioeconomic status, and mild cognitive impairment, funded by the University of Luxembourg’s Institute for Advanced Studies.
Anja is elected Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and co-founder and board member of the non-profit organization World Young Leaders in Dementia a.s.b.l. (WYLD) network that facilitates careers of young professionals in dementia globally. She serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the national dementia prevention programme pdp and regularly reviews for funders and journals. Her research has been published in Aging Research Reviews, International Journal for Equity in Health, Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Gerontology, and Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
