Henry joined Alzheimer Scotland as Chief Executive in August 2008. He has over thirty years’ experience in the health and social care sector. Henry has spent the majority of his career in the voluntary sector, primarily involved in developing new community-based person-centred services, leading significant campaigns and influencing system redesign and transformation. Henry has worked in both the learning disability and mental health fields.

Over the past fifteen years, Henry has been dedicated to the field of dementia, seeking to improve the rights and opportunities for people living with dementia and their carers in Scotland and beyond. He has been closely involved in the development of new approaches in practice, education, research and policy, as well as leading a national charity that provides direct support to people throughout Scotland and aims to make sure nobody faces dementia on their own. Recent work includes setting up a world leading dementia prevention initiative, Brain Health Scotland.

Henry has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from both Queen Margaret University and Glasgow Caledonian University.

Arvind is an unpaid carer. He was appointed to the Dementia Lived Experience Panel in 2022, in relation to his late father’s vascular dementia; his father passed away peacefully, at home, in early March 2023.

I Am Still Me is a poem co-written by Arvind and his father, almost by accident, an unplanned, impromptu act to capture a glimpse into the inner thoughts of an elderly man, a husband, a brother, a father, a grandfather and a lifelong humanitarian. The heartfelt poem, perhaps, resonates (even) more now, as a posthumous tribute to all those coming to terms with a diagnosis of dementia and to their cherished loved ones and dedicated carers.

 Maree Todd was appointed as Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport in March 2023.

She grew up in the West Highlands, attending Ullapool High School and then studying pharmacy and prescribing at Robert Gordon’s and Strathclyde, as well as taking an ante-natal teaching diploma at the University of Bedfordshire.

A pharmacist by profession, Maree Todd worked in NHS Highland for 20 years, mainly as a mental health pharmacist in a psychiatric hospital. She also contributed to SIGN guidance on perinatal mental health.

She was previously the Minister for Children and Young People.

Dr Kainde Manji is Head of Dementia for Age Scotland. She joined the organisation in 2019 to establish About Dementia, having previously worked as an academic at the University of Stirling and in the third sector. About Dementia work with people with lived experience of dementia, and unpaid carers of people living with dementia, to bring about changes in policy and practice in Scotland. In 2022 she was promoted to Head of Dementia with strategic responsibility for all Age Scotland’s dementia work. This includes our awareness, inclusion and carers’ rights training as well as support for dementia friendly communities through participatory grant funding (the latter funded in partnership with the Scottish Government).

Dr Manji has been a member of the Scottish Governments’ Dementia Strategy Advisory and Delivery Groups, has co-chaired the sub-group on community resilience, and was a member of the Guideline Group that developed the newly published Dementia SIGN Guideline.

Dr William McGeown is a Reader within the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health at University of Strathclyde.  He leads the Laboratory for Neuroanalytics and the Dementia Research Network at the University, and is the Strathclyde Executive Committee member for The Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence (SINAPSE).

Dr McGeown is interested in improving the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia through customised neuropsychological assessment methods, neuroimaging techniques and blood-biomarker assessment.

In addition to his interests in early detection/diagnosis, his research focuses on investigating the brain correlates of a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms (e.g., delusions, hallucinations), and on investigating non-pharmacological management and treatment options for those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.  Within his research he uses structural magnetic resonance imaging techniques (e.g., cortical thickness measurement), functional magnetic resonance imaging (brain activity and connectivity analyses), electrophysiological methods, and neuropsychological assessment.

Susan Banks has been the Team Lead for the Dundee Post Diagnostic Support service for the past 4 years. She has spent her career working with people living with dementia and is passionate about ensuring high quality support is delivered to people with dementia and their families, as well as campaigning to reduce the barriers faced utilising up to date research, guidelines and policies to do so. Susan qualified as a mental health nurse in 2010 and has worked in both inpatient and community settings.

Angela has worked in social housing for over 30 years in various senior roles in the local authority, third sector and laterally in the housing association sector.  She is an experienced leader of change and has a track record of innovate service redesign and digital transformation.

Angela is also an expert in adult social care having successfully developed a passion for combining housing and social care in a previous roles and is a strong advocate for housing, health and social care integration.

Having recently achieved Menopause Friendly accreditation and awarded IIP in Wellbeing Gold status, Angela is passionate about ensuring that wellbeing is embedded within the culture of the organisation and reflects the needs of those that work for Hanover.

Graham Galloway is the Interim CEO of Meeting Centres Scotland, a new charity that oversees the support and development of dementia Meeting Centres in Scotland. Meeting Centres are an evidence-based model of hyperlocal community support for families affected by dementia, originally developed in the Netherlands, but now growing across the world. Graham was one of the founders of Scotland’s first Meeting Centre, Kirrie Connections, and is actively involved with several other third-sector organisations. In addition to his role with Meeting Centres Scotland, Graham holds the position of Co-Chair at the development support charity Outside the Box, and serves as treasurer for the Angus Rural Partnership

Jan leads and shapes the delivery of operational and strategic priorities across the Commission. She has experience in leadership, corporate governance, human rights, communications, public affairs, and participation work, with a particular focus on campaigns to achieve real change.

I am currently  working for Oakminster Healthcare as the Live Our Values Enabler or more fondly known as the L-O-V-E Person. ♥

I have travelled the journey of this task master called Social Care for 38 years starting as a frontline worker and ending in senior management.

Some of my highlights of that journey have been achieving Grades of 6 in 2013, meeting the Queen for my work on a project around self leadership, Director role for Scotland, winning a Scottish Care Award last year for Staff Development and Leadership and latterly securing funds to buy a campervan for staff wellbeing trips.

Today I use these experiences to welcome new staff into the Care Sector and instill the Values they need to make our residents’ hearts feel fuzzy. 

In my spare time you will find me at the beach grounding my soul with some cold dipping or in a bar having lots of Vitamin D.

My personal greatest achievement is being a Nana to my two precious grandsons.

Debbie is the Alzheimer Scotland Professor of Dementia Care and Director of the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice (ASCPP) at the University of the West of Scotland. She is a registered nurse and Fellow of the Royal of Nursing. The ASCPP team have won multiple awards for dementia education excellence including design and delivery of Scotland’s workforce development programme Dementia Champions, the innovative Class in a Bag, the Carer’s Academy and Grace Notes. The impact of ASCPP leadership in innovative advanced dementia education is seen across Europe and beyond. Debbie’s current research interests include advanced dementia, family caring, young onset dementia and dementia in prisons.

Jess Elsey is the Head of Workforce Policy and Planning at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).  She’s worked for the organisation for some time, in different roles, and currently provides strategic leadership for the Workforce Policy, Digital Learning and Workforce Intelligence teams in the Workforce, Education and Standards directorate.  The Promoting Excellence framework details the skills and knowledge workers need to work with people living with dementia. The SSSC Workforce Policy team helps workers understand the framework and how they can use it to support dementia learning and embed it into an organisation’s learning culture.  It does this by working with partners such as NHS Education for Scotland (NES), Dementia Champions, Dementia Ambassadors and others across social services, developing and supporting the use of a variety of learning resources and activities. The wider WES team at the SSSC supports workforce development and workforce planning activity in different contexts across social work, social care and children and young people services and is a National and Official statistics provider of workforce data.  Prior to working at the SSSC, Jess was the training manager for a large third sector organisation that provided care, support and education for children, young people and adults.  She is a member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, the professional body for HR and people development.  Her particular interests are workforce wellbeing, leadership development, and quality improvement.  In her spare time she likes spending time with her family and friends, making quilts, and she collects gnomes!

I have worked in the Care Sector for over 30 years & qualified as an RMN in 1995, I have always worked in the Social Care sector specifically supporting elderly people with Cognitive Impairment & Dementia.

I have worked for Barchester Healthcare for the last 18 years & joined the Dementia Care Team in May 2015 & in the position of National Lead for 2 years.

I thrive on ensuring any care & support our residents receive is person centred & reflects their individual journey & life story. Enhancing wellbeing & the lived experience for our residents is always priority. I am directly involved in the development of policies as well as developing training packages for staff which includes Namaste, Supporting Distress Reactions, Dementia Champions programmes and CAREFUL observational training.

I support the staff in Barchester to ensure the Dementia Care delivered in our care homes is person centred, evidence based, up to date & in line with all regulatory requirements.

Susan Holland is a registered mental health nurse. During her nursing career, she has worked in mental health in-patient and community services. Susan has also held educational positions within clinical and university settings.

Over the past 6 years, Susan has had the privilege of working in the role of NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Consultant. As part of her Dementia Consultant role Susan also works with the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice (ASCPP) at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), 1 day per week.

Susan in passionate about improving the lives of people with dementia and their families. She has special interests in enhancing hospital care and dementia family caring experiences.

Henry joined Alzheimer Scotland as Chief Executive in August 2008. He has over thirty years’ experience in the health and social care sector. Henry has spent the majority of his career in the voluntary sector, primarily involved in developing new community-based person-centred services, leading significant campaigns and influencing system redesign and transformation. Henry has worked in both the learning disability and mental health fields.

Over the past fifteen years, Henry has been dedicated to the field of dementia, seeking to improve the rights and opportunities for people living with dementia and their carers in Scotland and beyond. He has been closely involved in the development of new approaches in practice, education, research and policy, as well as leading a national charity that provides direct support to people throughout Scotland and aims to make sure nobody faces dementia on their own. Recent work includes setting up a world leading dementia prevention initiative, Brain Health Scotland.

Henry has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from both Queen Margaret University and Glasgow Caledonian University.