A service set up to match people to Dementia research studies across the UK has hit its 10 year milestone

Over the past 10 years, more than 700 research trials have been recruited via the site, including the Virtual Flavour Study led by Professor Alan Chalmers of the University of Warwick, who has found it invaluable for finding participants.

Professor Chalmers was introduced to JDR by the team at West Midlands Regional Research Delivery Network (RDN). He was able to find people with a dementia diagnosis local to the university, who could come (with their carers if required) and take part in his ground-breaking medical screening for the disease, which could improve early detection and increase treatment options. You can read more about it on the RDN website: www.rdn.nihr.ac.uk/stories.

Participants are still being sought to join the 80,000 who have come forward to date – 6,000 in the West Midlands alone.

He said: “I take my hat off to the volunteers, who are making a huge difference to the future of dementia detection and treatment by coming forward at a difficult time for them. They really are unsung heroes and we couldn’t do the research without them.”

You can sign up to JDR at www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk

JDR is run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Society.