Dr. Sivananthan, an internationally recognized strategy and policy advisor on dementia care, is the co-founder and CEO of the Brainwell Institute – a nonprofit dementia policy think tank.  She is also an Affiliate Professor at McGill University. She was formerly Chief Research and KTE Officer at the Alzheimer Society of Canada where she oversaw a tripling of funding for dementia research and created multiple platforms for people living with dementia to engage in research, advocate and co-design programming for their needs.  In 2020 she was appointed by the Federal Minister of Health to the ministerial advisory board on dementia. Previously, Dr. Sivananthan served as a senior strategy and policy advisor consulting for the World Health Organization (WHO) on its overall global dementia strategy. Dr. Sivananthan co-drafted the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia which was unanimously adopted at the 170th World Health Assembly by all 194 member-states. This plan served as the template for Canada’s National Dementia Strategy. Dr. Sivananthan is a neuroscientist and health data scientist.