Associate Professor Susanne Roehr

Dr. Susanne Röhr is Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Social Determinants of Dementia at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW Sydney. Before joining CHeBA in early 2025, she held a position as Associate Professor of Psychology at Massey University in Auckland, where she co-led the New Zealand Body, Mind and Ageing Study (NZ-BMA). Her interdisciplinary background spans psychology, epidemiology, and public health, with a Master of Science in Psychology, a PhD in Social Medicine and a Venia Legendi in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Leipzig, Germany. Following her PhD and prior to relocating to Aotearoa New Zealand, she led the research group Epidemiology and Population Brain Health at the University of Leipzig.

Susanne's research focuses on modifiable risk and protective factors for brain health across the lifespan, with a particular interest in the social determinants of dementia, their intersection with climate change and planetary health, and innovative approaches to population-level and individual-level brain health promotion. She has led multiple large-scale studies and collaborates extensively across international consortia, including COSMIC, WWFINGERS, and EURODEM. Susanne is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), and her research has been recognised with multiple awards. Her work uses both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, bridging research with policy and community engagement. In addition, Susanne integrates creative methods such as arts, photovoice, and documentary filmmaking into her research to explore and communicate complex social and health-related themes in more accessible ways. At UNSW, she continues her commitment to advancing research on brain health equity and sustainable ageing globally.