Dr Dorina Cadar

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Behavioural Science and Health

Institute of Epidemiology & Health

Joined UCL: 1st Dec 2021

Research summary

Dorina Cadar focuses on various determinants of mental capabilities across the life course and specifically on examining the risk factors associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. She is particularly interested in the inter-individual variability of cognitive ageing and understanding why some individuals experience faster rates of cognitive decline compared to others. Other research areas of interest are cardiovascular disease, inflammatory markers, mental health and well-being, lifestyle behaviours, healthy ageing and quality of life in individuals living with dementia.

Teaching summary

Dorina Cadar has led the Chronic Illness from a Health Psychology Perspective of the MSc Health Psychology, Measuring Population Health, Population Ageing of the BSc Population Health at UCL. She contributes to teaching and student supervision on the BSc Population Health, MSc Health and Society: Social Epidemiology and MSc Health Psychology.

Dorina is currently supervising the following PhD students at UCL:

PhD Student, 2019-2022 Pamela Almeida-Meza Thesis title: “Cognitive reserve and dementia”

PhD Student, 2019-2022 Philipp Frank Thesis title: “Systemic inflammation and mental health”

PhD Student, 2019-2022 Charlotte Campbell Thesis title: “A bio-social approach to healthy ageing”

PhD Student, 2020-2023 Aswathikutty Gireesh Thesis title: “Social to biological pathways to cognitive impairment”

Education

University of Edinburgh: Other Postgraduate qualification (including professional), Postgraduate Certificate | 2013
University College London: Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 2013
Institute of Psychiatry: Other higher degree, Master of Science | 2009
Birkbeck College: First Degree, Bachelor of Science | 2008

Biography

Dorina Cadar is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Dementia at UCL and Associate Professor in Cognitive Epidemiology and Dementia at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She is the Principal Investigator of the Alzheimer Society grant Cognitive reserve and dementia incidence and the ESRC-funded project Social determinants of dementia in the UK and Japan. Previously, Dorina has worked with Professor Andrew Steptoe and a multidisciplinary team to implement the Healthy Cognitive Ageing Project (HCAP) within the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

She is the Comms Officer of the Society of Social Medicine (SSM), Co-chair of the UCL Early Career Network and founder of the Public Engagement Project “Use it, don’t lose it!” She is an Associate Editor at BMC Psychiatry and Brain Sciences, member of the Alzheimer’s Society, Royal Society for Medicine, Society for Social Medicine, British Society of Gerontology and Gerontological Society of America.

Dorina graduated with a PhD in Cognitive Epidemiology from University College London (2013), a Postgraduate Certificate (Distinction) in Cognitive Ageing Research Methods from University of Edinburgh (2013), an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London (2009) and a BSc in Psychology (Hons) from Birkbeck College, University of London (2008).