The faculty's new endowed research chair in primary care is focused on improving the quality of life for people living with dementia as well as their families.
Neil Drummond, who has a PhD in public health, started his new role in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry this summer. He will use a new database via the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN) to download anonymous clinical data from 300 family doctors who use the network. He will look at common threads in how dementia is managed in a primary-care setting, and how that care can be improved.
"This will be the first time we'll have access to national clinical data direct from primary-care settings in regards to dementia care," says Drummond.
"We already know family physicians often struggle with patients who have dementia in terms of making diagnoses and implementing care. The condition is difficult to identify and patients present in so many different ways with so many sets of stories - with their own stories or stories told through their caregivers. It's not easy, but we know there is room for improvement.
"It's important to look at this issue now because there's going to be a huge increase in people with dementia over the next 30 years. The medical system won't be able to cope with this unless it changes radically. This research is a good starting point to making those changes."
Drummond's appointment exemplifies the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's commitment to ensuring that medical research results in improving the lives of patients.
"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Drummond to our academic health sciences centre and recognize that his work will benefit Albertans living with dementia and assist their families" says Dr. D. Douglas Miller, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
The other concept Drummond is working on, with colleagues from across Alberta, is to develop a large, provincial primary-care research network that will incorporate already existing local networks in Edmonton and Calgary, and become a major piece of research infrastructure in support of primary-care development.
This would include an expansion of CPCSSN within Alberta and might also include a registry of people from the general population who are willing to take part in health research. They would consent to limited clinical and identifying information about them being stored in a high-security "safe data haven."
A researcher working on a study would be able to contact the registry's data custodians and request a sample of community-based volunteers meeting relevant eligibility criteria. The custodians would then contact the appropriate participating members of the registry and ask them whether they would be interested in taking part in the study.
"This is being done successfully in Scotland and I think it's something that could be done here," says Drummond.
He says his work is applicable province wide and not just Edmonton or Calgary.
Alberta Health Services says they are proud to support his research.
"Alberta Health Services puts a high priority on research and strong primary care is vital to strengthening our health-care system" says Dr. Richard Lewanczuk, Alberta Health Services Senior Medical Director, Primary and Community Care. "We are excited to welcome Dr. Drummond to the role of endowed research chair in primary care and look forward to having his expertise in helping us make positive changes to how we deliver care in Alberta."
In addition to his new chair position with the FoMD, Drummond also holds adjunct appointments with the U of A's School of Public Health and the University of Calgary's Department of Family Medicine.
Prior to moving to Edmonton, Drummond was the director of research for the U of C's Department of Family Medicine. Before that, he worked at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto for four years. He moved to Canada after working at the University of Glasgow's Public Health research unit and the Health Services research unit at the University of Aberdeen.