This year, the work carried out by Leslie Grasset, a researcher in the PHARes-BPH team, has been recognized by the Alzheimer’s Foundation.
She has been awarded the Joël Ménard Prize for her research into the role of modifiable risk factors in the development of neurocognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Leslie Grasset is a researcher specializing in the epidemiology of aging. After defending her thesis in 2017, she continued her postdoctoral studies in the United States before joining the PHARes team at the BPH, where she is developing a research program on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
To learn more about her career and her appointment to the highly selective Inserm Research Fellow competition read this article.

 

 

Leslie’s work focuses on environmental factors such as air quality, noise, living conditions, socioeconomic inequalities, etc., as well as health behaviors and cardiovascular risk factors and their role in cognitive decline and dementia.

 

 

In this context, she uses data from large cohorts of patients followed up in memory consultation, such as the MEMENTO cohort, to link environmental and lifestyle exposures to functional cognitive trajectories and biomarkers in order to better understand the early mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases.

 

 

In addition, she actively contributes to international collaboration through the Cross-Cohort Collaboration Consortium, which compares the effect of different risk factors, including social and lifestyle factors, on various markers of brain health.

 

 

 

 

The Joël Ménard Award, recognition for her work on Alzheimer’s disease

 

Leslie Grasset was recently awarded the Joël Ménard Prize by the Alzheimer Foundation.
This distinction recognises young doctors and scientists for their contributions to research on Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

 

 

The prize highlights the quality and importance of her work in clinical and translational research.

 

 

Indeed, since completing her thesis, Leslie has been pursuing her goal of reducing the risks associated with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia by improving understanding of risk factors.

 

 

In 2023, the Planiol Foundation for Brain Research awarded Leslie Grasset their Young Researcher Prize for a project entitled ‘Prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and related syndromes’, conducted at the BPH.
Her work was already focused on developing prevention strategies for this disease, targeting the everyday environment and behaviours throughout the life course.

 

 

Given the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on the population, Leslie’s research plays a key role in the development of prevention strategies.