Professor Dr. Aleksandra Pikula joined the European Lifestyle medicine Organization (ELMO) in 2021. She is actively involved in the organization as a member of the Scientific Council of ELMO and as the ELMO Ambassador for Canada. She will be actively contributing as a teaching staff to recently created Master of Science in Lifestyle Medicine, organized by the University of Thessaly (Greece) and its departments of Medicine, Physical Education & Sports Science and Nutrition & Dietetics, under the auspices of the ELMO.
BIO CV:
Current Academic Activities: Dr. Pikula is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Neurology/Vascular Neurology) at the University of Toronto, a Clinician-Investigator at Krembil Brain Institute, Director of Stroke Neurology Research at University Health Network, Co-Director of Women's Neurology Fellowship at U of T and Founder of the EMBRACE Lifestyle Program for Optimal Brain Care & Stroke Prevention. She is a founder and director of the largest multidisciplinary Stroke in Young Adults (SiYA) Program in Canada; program that thus far successfully trained over 30 neurology residents and stroke, women’s neurology, and rheumatology fellows from around the world.
Professional Education:
Dr. Pikula is quadruple board-certified in Internal Medicine (NYU), Neurology (Boston University), Vascular Neurology (BU/Harvard/Framingham Study) & Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), and she is certificated in Clinical Nutrition Science (Stanford University), Plant-Based Nutrition (Cornell University), Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice (Institute for Functional Medicine) & Precision Nutrition Coaching (Canada).
Clinical Research:
Dr. Pikula’ s overarching clinical and research interests are focused on sex-disparities in stroke prevention and outcomes, studying the effect of various factors (psychological, social, lifestyle) on HRQOL and brain care/health in young adults (specifically women). This led to an emerging interest in developing innovative clinical strategies for brain care/stroke prevention - the EMBRACE Lifestyle Program and more recently, the KNOW BRAIN Study focusing on patients’ knowledge & awareness about impact of lifestyle strategies on brain health. Dr. Pikula’ s work had been published in high impact journals (Nature, Stroke, Circulation, JAMA, Neurology, and others ) and recognized by, amongst others, the NIH/NINDS & ANA, the AHA/ASA, the CIHR through continuous research support.
Educational activities:
Dr. Pikula chairs the U of T Women’s Brain Health Rounds – a unique international opportunity for students, faculty, residents, and patients to share translational science around women’s brain health. As an Associate Editor for Frontiers - Sex and Gender Disparities in Chronic Diseases, Dr. Pikula was able to secure support from the Frontiers in Global Women’s Health (Aging in Women) and created a platform for the Research Article Collection to allow students, junior faculty members and experts to publish their work around the same topic.
PubMed: NIH Bibliography Google Scholar
Social Media: Twitter / LinkedIn / WomensBrainHealth
ABSTRACT
Brain Health and Aging through Lifestyle Medicine across lifespan
Prof. Aleksandra Pikula MD, DipABPN, DipABLM, ELMOcDirector, Centre for Stroke Prevention & Brain Health, UHN-University of Toronto.
Director, Stroke Neurology Research Program, UHN-Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto (Canada)
The presentation would focus on a broad aspect of the topic of the Brain Health such:
- review definition of brain health
- what are the shared risks for all: dementia, stroke and depression
- introduce the most pragmatic way of assessing the brain health in 5’ during clinic visit
- how to approach this through LSM pillars -what works?
- focus on science around nutrition, physical activity, sleep and social connection for better brain health
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