Katya Numbers

Katya Numbers is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) within the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of New South Wales. She previously coordinated CHeBA's Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS), a longitudinal study investigating cognitive aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia in older Australians. Her research focuses on modifiable lifestyle factors linked to dementia risk, subjective cognitive complaints, the psychological impact of aging stereotypes, and the effects of social isolation (e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic). She employs epidemiological analysis of large datasets, experimental trials, and digital tools to assess mental and physical health in aging populations.

• Research Interests: Lifestyle interventions for dementia prevention, subjective cognitive decline, social support in aging, neuropsychological assessment, and combating age-related stereotypes.
• Methodologies: Longitudinal cohort studies, Rasch analysis for cognitive testing, network analysis of mental health metrics, and machine learning applications in speech pattern recognition.
• Impact: 22 peer-reviewed publications, 24 conference presentations, editorial/reviewer roles for 21 journals, and grants totaling over $4.6M. Her work contributes to shifting societal perceptions of aging from decline to resilience.

The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (2005–present) has generated over 190 high-impact papers, tracking biomarkers, neuroimaging, and lifestyle data to identify predictors of cognitive aging. Katya’s recent articles (2025–2024) analyze longitudinal associations between aging attitudes, social support, cerebrovascular health, and cognitive decline, with methodological innovations in Rasch modeling and network analysis for cognitive assessment tools.