James Vickers

Professor James Vickers is a leading neuroscientist at the University of Tasmania, serving as Director of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre. With over 25 years of academic leadership, his work focuses on early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, dementia risk reduction, and biomarker development.

• Key Research Areas:
  • Neurodegenerative disease mechanisms
  • Early Alzheimer's diagnosis via digital biomarkers
  • Modifiable dementia risk factors
  • Social determinants of cognitive aging
  • Neuroplasticity in aging populations

Recent Publications (2024-2025) demonstrate interdisciplinary innovation, combining hand movement analysis, plasma biomarkers, and machine learning for preclinical dementia detection. His work spans public health interventions in rural communities and culturally sensitive education for Indigenous populations.

• Major Grants:
  • NHMRC Ideas Grant: Multi-omic approaches to neurodegeneration
  • Medical Research Future Fund: TALK-TBI community program
  • Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation: Brain-behavior correlation studies
  • Dementia Australia Research Foundation: Migration health disparities research
  • FightMND: Therapeutic development in ALS

Doctoral Supervision includes 46 candidates (19 completed, 20 ongoing) across topics like:

• Neuroplasticity in Alzheimer's models
• Social contagion of dementia risks
• Neurofilament protein biomarkers
• Genetic modifiers of cognitive aging
• TBI-dementia relationships