About us
The C-STAM is a computerised assessment tool that is being developed to measure people’s ability to perform complex instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) such as financial management, online grocery shopping, following directions, sorting out medications, etc.
The C-STAM is currently being developed by a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and computer scientists.
Our Goal
The results of the C-STAM will provide GPs, OTs and other clinicians detailed information regarding a person’s ability to perform complex everyday activities and may inform targeted interventions.
After we first test and validate the C-STAM, our goal is to make it freely available to clinicians to facilitate a standardised assessment of complex everyday tasks. The C-STAM can be administered remotely, which increases accessibility and enables testing for individuals who are not able to attend clinical visits.
Multidisciplinary team
C-STAM team is a multidisciplinary team that consists of researchers, clinicians, and IT technologists.
Simone Reppermund
Chief Investigator
Associate Professor Simone Reppermund is a psychologist and UNSW Scientia Fellow with the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at UNSW Sydney.
Katya Numbers
Study Coordinator
Katya is the coordinator for the C-STAM study and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales.
Katya has a Bachelor and Master of Science in Psychology and PhD in Cognitive Science from Macquarie University. She has experience designing and managing clinical interventions, validation trials, and longitudinal studies involving older adult participants.
Her work focuses on modifiable lifestyle factors associated with increased risk of dementia and identifying signs and symptoms of very early dementia for targeted interventions.
Ping-hsiu Lin
Project Officer
Ping is a PhD student working on the C-STAM project under the supervision of A/Prof. Simone Reppermund and Dr. Katya Numbers at UNSW.
Ping completed his Master of Brain and Mind Sciences and Master of Philosophy in Psychology at the University of Sydney. Ping's research interests include dementia, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive decline, and daily functioning.
Minal Tanvir
Project Officer
Minal is a PhD candidate working on the C-STAM project under the supervision of A/Prof. Simone Reppermund and Dr. Katya Numbers.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Psychological Science in 2022 from UNSW and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology with Distinction in 2023 from Western Sydney University. Her PhD focuses on the factors influencing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) measured in older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment and dementia by a novel, computerised tool.
Kathy Nguyen
Project Officer
Kathy is a Research Assistant working on the ‘Developing a computerised diagnostic tool to assess functional ability in older adults’ pilot study.
Kathy has a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) degree in psychology and neuroscience from UNSW Sydney and a Master of Occupational Therapy from The University of Sydney. She has worked with older adults in the community as an occupational therapist, gaining experience in aged care assessment and rehabilitation.
Kathy has an interest in dementia research in general and improving health outcomes for people living with dementia.
Other Study Investigators:
- Scientia Professor Henry Brodaty, UNSW Sydney
- Professor Lindy Clemson, The University of Sydney
- Dr Nicole Kochan, UNSW Sydney
- Professor Brian Draper, UNSW Sydney
- Professor Kim Delbaere, UNSW Sydney
- Professor Julian Trollor, UNSW Sydney
- Associate Professor Anupama Ginige, Western Sydney University
- Dr Jacqueline Wesson, The University of Sydney
- Dr Katharina Luttenberger, University Hospital Erlangen
- Scientia Professor Perminder Sachdev, UNSW Sydney
- Dr Ben Chun Pan Lam, La Trobe University
- Dr Quoc Cuong Truong, The University of Waikato
- Dr Stephanie Ward, UNSW Sydney
Advisory group:
Our advisory group is made up of eight older and younger adults with and without lived experiences of dementia. This includes older adults without dementia, older adults currently living with dementia and/or Mild Cognitive Impairment, and current and former carers for individuals living with dementia recruited from across Australia.