Rebekah Ahmed

Clinical Associate Professor Rebekah Ahmed is a staff specialist Neurologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where she directs the multidisciplinary Memory and Cognition Clinic and works with the FRONTIER group at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney. She graduated from Medicine at the University of Adelaide with a University Medal and completed her Neurology training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurology Fellowship to the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, and completed a Clinical Research Fellowship at the Dementia Research Centre, University College London.

Dr. Ahmed's research focuses on metabolic biomarkers in neurodegeneration, with particular expertise in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Her PhD investigated eating and metabolic abnormalities in Frontotemporal dementia and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. She has published extensively on dementia, physiological changes, neurodegeneration, reward processing, and metabolic changes, with over 100 publications spanning from 2011 to 2025. Her work employs diverse methodologies including neuroimaging, cognitive assessments, and biomarker analysis to understand disease mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes.

Recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate a continued focus on behavioral and cognitive profiles in dementia, motivational disturbances in frontotemporal dementia, regional health priorities for dementia in the Western Pacific, hypothalamic involvement in the ALS-FTD spectrum, and olfactory bulb integrity in neurodegenerative disorders. Her 2025 Lancet publication 'The Holy Grail' highlights the need for equitable access to dementia treatments and clinical trials.

• 2022 Sydney Research prize - Young Researcher of the year
• 2020 Leonard Cox Award, Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurology
• 2018 Most outstanding journal publications in ALS-FTD, Forefront program grant
• 2018 Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney Research Award
• Multiple Young Investigator Awards from the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurology (2014, 2016)
• 2015 American Academy of Neurology International Scholarship
• 2015 UNSW Deans Award for Outstanding Research

Dr. Ahmed serves as co-block chair for the Neurosciences block at the University of Sydney and supervises numerous PhD and early-career researchers. Her research is supported by multiple grants from organizations including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the MND Research Institute of Australia, and the Forefront program. She is actively involved in international collaborations across the Western Pacific region to address regional health priorities in dementia care and research.

As a clinician-scientist, Dr. Ahmed maintains an active clinical practice while leading innovative research projects at the Brain and Mind Centre. Her work bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications, with the goal of improving diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life for patients with neurodegenerative disorders.