Dr David Ward

Research Fellow

Centre for Health Services Research

david.ward@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

Dr David Ward is a Research Fellow in ageing and geriatric medicine at the Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine. David is particularly interested in how people's experiences, behaviours and health conditions can affect their chances of developing dementia as they grow older. A key component of his research is aimed at understanding the complex links between ageing, frailty and the brain.

David conducted his PhD at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, and graduated in 2015. This work centred on exploring modifiable (e.g. education level) and non-modifiable (e.g. genetics) risks for ageing-related cognitive decline within the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. David subsequently held postdoctoral research positions at Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Bonn Germany)—where he investigated the viability of retinal biomarkers for cognitive functioning, among other topics—and Geriatric Medicine Research, Dalhousie University (Halifax Canada)—where he measured the relationships between frailty and the subsequent risks of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. After returning to Australia and prior to starting at The University of Queensland, David worked for two years as a Team Leader at the Ageing and Aged Care Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Canberra Australia).

Since 2020 and resulting from David's international postdoctoral positions, he has published three articles as first-author in world-leading journals: Neurology; the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry; and Annals of Neurology. David has won an award from the Erica Bell Foundation for Excellence in Medical Research and has acted as a peer-review for 15 journals and as an External Grant Assessor for NHMRC Project Grants. David was one of four academic developers who created the Preventing Dementia MOOC (~100,000 completers and ranked 4.9/5.0 on Class Central) and in 2018 was invited to be a guest lecturer at the University of Bonn, Bonn International Graduate School. David is a member of the DEMON Network and is the current Chair of the Network's Frailty and Dementia Special Interest Group.

Publications

Journal Articles (26)

Generic Document (1)

Journal Articles

Ward, David D., Flint, Jonny P., Littlejohns, Thomas J., Foote, Isabelle F., Canevelli, Marco, Wallace, Lindsay M. K., Gordon, Emily H., Llewellyn, David J., Ranson, Janice M., Hubbard, Ruth E., Rockwood, Kenneth and Stolz, Erwin (2024). Frailty Trajectories Preceding Dementia in the US and UK. JAMA Neurology, 82 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3774

Gordon, Emily H., Ward, David D., Xiong, Hao, Berkovsky, Shlomo and Hubbard, Ruth E. (2024). Delirium and incident dementia in hospital patients in New South Wales, Australia: retrospective cohort study. BMJ, 384 e077634, 1-10. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-077634

Martin, Jissa, Reid, Natasha, Ward, David D., King, Shannon, Hubbard, Ruth E. and Gordon, Emily H. (2024). Investigating sex differences in risk and protective factors in the progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia: a systematic review. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 97 (1), 101-119. doi: 10.3233/jad-230700

Ward, David D., Martin, J. and Gordon, E. H. (2023). Is there a sex-frailty paradox in dementia?. Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, 27 (12), 1281-1283. doi: 10.1007/s12603-023-2040-8

Canevelli, Marco, Wallace, Lindsay M. K., Bruno, Giuseppe, Cesari, Matteo, Rockwood, Kenneth and Ward, David D. (2023). Frailty is associated with the clinical expression of neuropsychological deficits in older adults. European Journal of Neurology, 31 (1) e16072, 1-9. doi: 10.1111/ene.16072

Ward, David D., Ranson, Janice M., Wallace, Lindsay M. K., Llewellyn, David J. and Rockwood, Kenneth (2021). Frailty, lifestyle, genetics and dementia risk. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 93 (4), 343-350. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2021-327396

Wallace, Lindsay M. K., Theou, Olga, Godin, Judith, Ward, David D., Andrew, Melissa K., Bennett, David A. and Rockwood, Kenneth (2021). 10‐year frailty trajectory is associated with Alzheimer’s dementia after considering neuropathological burden. Aging Medicine, 4 (4), 250-256. doi: 10.1002/agm2.12187

Ward, David D. and Bhat, Ravi (2021). Do frailty and depression interact to heighten risk of death?. International Psychogeriatrics, 33 (8), 755-757. doi: 10.1017/s1041610220003968

Ward, David D., Wallace, Lindsay M. K. and Rockwood, Kenneth (2021). Frailty and risk of dementia in mild cognitive impairment subtypes. Annals of Neurology, 89 (6), 1221-1225. doi: 10.1002/ana.26064

Ward, David D., Wallace, Lindsay M. K. and Rockwood, Kenneth (2021). Cumulative health deficits, APOE genotype, and risk for later-life mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 92 (2), 136-142. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2020-324081

Coors, Annabell, Merten, Natascha, Ward, David D., Schmid, Matthias, Breteler, Monique M. B. and Ettinger, Ulrich (2021). Strong age but weak sex effects in eye movement performance in the general adult population: evidence from the Rhineland Study. Vision Research, 178, 124-133. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.10.004

Oumohand, Sadia E., Ward, David D., Boenniger, Meta M., Merten, Natascha, Kirschbaum, Clemens and Breteler, Monique M. B. (2020). Perceived stress but not hair cortisol concentration is related to adult cognitive performance. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 121 104810, 104810. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104810

Ward, David D., Mauschitz, Matthias M., Boenniger, Meta M., Merten, Natascha, Finger, Robert P. and Breteler, Monique M. B. (2020). Association of retinal layer measurements and adult cognitive function: a population-based study. Neurology, 95 (9), E1144-E1152. doi: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000010146

Brown, Donnamay T., Vickers, James C., Stuart, Kimberley E., Cechova, Katerina and Ward, David D. (2020). The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism modulates resilience of neurological functioning to brain ageing and dementia: a narrative review. Brain Sciences, 10 (4) 195, 1-16. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10040195

Cechova, Katerina, Andel, Ross, Angelucci, Francesco, Chmatalova, Zuzana, Markova, Hana, Laczo, Jan, Vyhnalek, Martin, Matoska, Vaclav, Kaplan, Vojtech, Nedelska, Zuzana, Ward, David D. and Hort, Jakub (2020). Impact of APOE and BDNF Val66Met gene polymorphisms on cognitive functions in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, 73 (1), 247-257. doi: 10.3233/jad-190464

Ward, D. D., Summers, M. J., Valenzuela, M. J., Srikanth, V. K., Summers, J. J., King, A. E., Ritchie, K., Robinson, A. L. and Vickers, J. C. (2019). Associations of later-life education, the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and cognitive change in older adults. JPAD, 7 (1), 37-42. doi: 10.14283/jpad.2019.40

Summers, Mathew J., Thow, Megan E., Ward, David D., Saunders, Nichole L., Klekociuk, Shannon Z., Imlach, Abbie-Rose, Summers, Jeffery J. and Vickers, James C. (2019). Validation of a dynamic measure of current cognitive reserve in a longitudinally assessed sample of healthy older adults: the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. Assessment, 26 (4), 737-742. doi: 10.1177/1073191116685806

Pietzuch, Manuela, King, Anna E., Ward, David D. and Vickers, James C. (2019). The influence of genetic factors and cognitive reserve on structural and functional resting-state brain networks in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 11 30, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2019.00030

Imlach, Abbie-Rose, Ward, David D., Stuart, Kimberley E., Summers, Mathew J., Valenzuela, Michael J., King, Anna E., Saunders, Nichole L., Summers, Jeffrey, Srikanth, Velandai K., Robinson, Andrew and Vickers, James C. (2017). Age is no barrier: predictors of academic success in older learners. N P J Science of Learning, 2 (1) 13, 13. doi: 10.1038/s41539-017-0014-5

Ward, David D., Andel, Ross, Saunders, Nichole L., Thow, Megan E., Klekociuk, Shannon Z., Bindoff, Aidan D. and Vickers, James C. (2017). The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderates the effect of cognitive reserve on 36-month cognitive change in healthy older adults. Alzheimer's and Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, 3 (3), 323-331. doi: 10.1016/j.trci.2017.04.006

Imlach, A.-R., Ward, D. D., Vickers, J. C., Summers, M. J. and Felmingham, K. L. (2017). Association between the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism and verbal learning in older adults is moderated by gender. Translational Psychiatry, 7 (6) e1144, 1-7. doi: 10.1038/tp.2017.107

Lenehan, Megan E., Summers, Mathew J., Saunders, Nichole L., Summers, Jeffery J., Ward, David D., Ritchie, Karen and Vickers, James C. (2016). Sending your grandparents to university increases cognitive reserve: the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. Neuropsychology, 30 (5), 525-531. doi: 10.1037/neu0000249

Ward, D. D., Summers, M. J., Saunders, N. L., Ritchie, K., Summers, J. J. and Vickers, J. C. (2015). The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderates the relationship between cognitive reserve and executive function. Translational Psychiatry, 5 (6) e590, 1-6. doi: 10.1038/tp.2015.82

Ward, David D., Summers, Mathew J., Saunders, Nichole L. and Vickers, James C. (2015). Modeling cognitive reserve in healthy middle-aged and older adults: the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. International Psychogeriatrics, 27 (4), 579-589. doi: 10.1017/s1041610214002075

Ward, David D., Summers, Mathew J., Saunders, Nichole L., Janssen, Pierce, Stuart, Kimberley E. and Vickers, James C. (2014). APOE and BDNF Val66Met polymorphisms combine to influence episodic memory function in older adults. Behavioural Brain Research, 271, 309-315. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.06.022

Generic Document

Ward, David D. (2023). R analysis code for delirium and incident dementia using NSW hospitals data.