An Orillia-born academic has won a prestigious award for her work as a graduate student while studying Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Danielle D'Amico, a Patrick Fogarty Catholic School graduate, received the Governor General’s Gold Academic Medal for outstanding performance throughout her graduate studies in the PhD psychology program at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
D’Amico, 30, maintained an A+ average throughout her graduate studies, and her research focused on different factors that affect brain health while aging, such as cognitive functions like memory, planning, and organization.
The award is granted annually to students who achieve the highest academic standing in a graduate degree program; D’Amico is one of just two students at TMU to be honoured with the award this year.
For her efforts, she was nominated by her department earlier this year, and received both her PhD and the prestigious gold medal on Oct. 13.
“It feels really good. I feel really proud. I feel, also, really grateful, and I feel really happy that I get to end such a challenging and daunting, but rewarding experience on such a high note,” said the former Patrick Fogarty student.
“It feels really good to just be recognized for all the hard work that I had to put in for the last six years.”
D’Amico previously told OrilliaMatters that her grandmother – who lived with dementia – was the inspiration for her research, and she said her grandmother helped her stay focused on her work through all the challenges of completing her PhD.
“A lot of hard work had to go into getting my degree and all the stuff that I did during graduate training, and there were so many ups and downs, challenging moments, really busy times,” she said. “To push through, I really needed a personal sort of inspiration to keep going, and my grandmother really was that for me.”
D’Amico’s studies largely focused on stress and how it impacts cognitive function. One of her personal aims for her work is to identify the risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and to help people maintain strong cognitive function throughout their lives.
After completing her program, D’Amico received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Alzheimer Society of Canada to work at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, which she began in September.
Over the next two years, she will help older adults identify their personal risk factors for dementia, and then create programs that help mitigate that risk over the long term.
“Each person who comes gets a deep dementia risk assessment, and then they get personalized programming, like lifestyle-based programming, based on their specific risk factors,” she said.
“My postdoc is focused on evaluating that program to see if it helps people lower their risk of dementia and maintain their cognition over time," she explained. “I hope that we get some good data and some good results.”
