Data-driven dementia prevention

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Dementia, as an umbrella term for various conditions, is on the way to becoming the most expensive widespread disease for all the world’s societies. There are currently no cures, but the latest Lancet report on the prevention of dementia shows that up to 45 percent of all cases are potentially preventable.

Last edited: 27. March 2026

Publications of the Working Group

Various factors influence the risk and development of the disease as well as the efficacy of preventive measures. When combined, these factors result in potential individual risk profiles that form the basis for effective prevention of dementia, beyond general lifestyle recommendations. The AI-assisted use of data relating to individual biomedical requirements and socio-economic conditions, combined with modelling and digital twins, offers major potential for developing such risk profiles.

On the one hand, the working group aims to depict the future challenges that dementia in all its forms poses to society’s healthcare and economic systems, so that all stakeholders are more aware of this multifaceted disease. On the other hand, the aim is to compile and develop approaches to tackle these challenges via preventive measures based on individual risk profiles.

The working group is analysing the necessary scientific foundations and the potential of currently available data sources so that, in the next step, it can outline options with respect to research requirements and improving the database and data accessibility. The findings will inform a statement on supporting long-term and strategically focused data-driven dementia prevention.

Participating institutions

  • acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering (leading organisation)
  • German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
  • Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities

Spokeswoman of the working group

Further members of the working group

  • Prof Dr Klaus Berger, University of Münster
  • Prof Dr Martin Dichgans, Munich University Hospital, Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), Munich
  • Prof Dr Olaf Dössel, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe
  • Prof Dr Emrah Düzel, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
  • Prof Dr Annette Grüters-Kieslich ML, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin
  • Prof Dr Dr Christian Haass ML, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Munich
  • Prof. Dr Bert Heinrichs, Research Centre Jülich
  • Prof. Dr Wolfgang Hoffman, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Greifswald
  • Prof. Dr Dr Steffen Leonhardt, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University
  • Prof Dr Iris Pigeot, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS), Bremen
  • Prof Dr Josef Priller, TUM University Hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar, Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Munich
  • Prof. Dr Joachim Schultze, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn

ML = Member of the Leopoldina

Scientific coordination

Dr Thomas Steiner, acatech

Contact us

Kontakt Dr Johannes Schmoldt

Senior Officer, Department International Relations

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