Nicole Kochan

Dr. Nicole Kochan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales. She is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Principal Investigator of the NHMRC-funded CogSCAN project, leading neuropsychology streams in the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study and the Sydney Centenarian Study. She contributes to international consortia such as COSMIC, STROKOG, and ICC-Dementia, and participates in intervention trials like Maintain Your Brain and MetMemory.

• Senior Research Fellow, CHeBA, University of New South Wales
• Clinical Neuropsychologist
• Principal Investigator, NHMRC CogSCAN Project
• Neuropsychology Stream Leader, Sydney Memory and Ageing Study & Sydney Centenarian Study
• Member, COSMIC, STROKOG, ICC-Dementia Consortia

Nicole Kochan specializes in cognitive aging, dementia, and neuropsychological assessment. Her research focuses on early detection of cognitive decline using psychometric measures, normative data, and computerized testing, while investigating determinants of cognitive variability over the lifespan. She examines intra-individual variability (IIV) in cognitive performance as a predictor of dementia risk and mortality.

Her recent publications highlight trends in cognitive decline associated with hospitalization, brain compensation in centenarians, social cognition in dementia, and vascular risk factors. She has contributed to validating cognitive assessments, analyzing brain structure-function relationships, and studying lifestyle interventions for aging populations.

• NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2012-2016)

Nicole Kochan collaborates on multidomain clinical trials and aging research, utilizing neuroimaging, genetic, and population data to understand cognitive trajectories. Her work bridges clinical practice with large-scale epidemiological studies, emphasizing cross-cultural and cross-ethnic analyses.