Dr. Julie Stout

What this episode covers

Julie Stout is Professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University. She leads a team of post-docs, students, and IT specialists, employing techniques from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience to characterise the effects of neurodegeneration on cognition and brain function. Her research group is known for innovations in assessments using computerised and sensor-based approaches.   Professor Stout is a leading international expert in Huntington’s Disease. Her team has led the cognitive component of several large, international studies, which have described the cognitive, motor, psychiatric, and brain imaging changes in people with the Huntington’s Disease gene as they progress from normal functioning to manifest Huntington’s Disease. Professor Stout also led a 20-site international study that yielded the HD-CAB, which is now the standard cognitive assessment battery for clinical trials in Huntington’s Disease. Professor Stout also co-leads the Scientific Planning Committee of Enroll-HD, the largest ever study of people from Huntington’s Disease families, which has over 12,000 participants globally. A key translation of Professor Stout’s research is that the diagnosis of Huntington’s Disease is now being refined to take into account, for the first time, cognitive changes rather than focusing exclusively on the movement disorder symptoms. Professor Stout is Director of Stout Neuropsych Pty Ltd. – a spin-out company that provides an assessment platform and services for cognitive assessment in clinical trials to pharmaceutical sponsors. Her team collaborates with multiple industry partners, pushing innovation by integrating emerging technologies such as mobile devices and sensors into clinical trials, with the aim of capturing individual differences in both disease phenotypes and responsivity to treatments.

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