Sharon Naismith

Sharon Linda Naismith is an Australian clinical neuropsychologist who researches aging, dementia, and cognitive decline. She is the Leonard P. Ullman Chair in Psychology at the University of Sydney School of Psychology. Sharon founded the Healthy Brain Ageing Project in 2010, which focuses on modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia including depression, sleep disturbance and cardiovascular disease. In 2023, Naismith was elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Naismith earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a D.Psych. from Macquarie University. Her 2004 dissertation was titled, ''Implicit Sequence Learning in Depression Relationship to Neuropsychological, Clinical, Vascular and Genetic Risk Factors''. Her dissertation supervisors were Ian Hickie and Edwin Arthur Shores.

Naismith's research focus on aging, dementia, and cognitive decline, particularly modifiable risk factors such as sleep disturbance, is a key part of her career. One project, the ''REducing Sleep Apnoea for the PrEvention of Dementia (REShAPED)'' trial, received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). This trial investigates the link between sleep apnoea and dementia risk, a significant aspect of her research. Provided by Wikipedia