Researcher biography

Dr Megan Barker is a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive neuropsychology, and holds a current appointment at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland. She has significant research experience in the field of neurodegenerative disorders, including dementia, motor neurone disease, and parkinsonian disorders. Her research expertise focuses on detecting novel cognitive and behavioural changes in persons at risk for developing dementia, and detailed phenotyping of cognitive and behavioural changes across neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, she has published work identifying distinctive patterns of cognitive and language functioning in individuals with atypical parkinsonian disorders (e.g. progressive supranuclear palsy), as well as early memory changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. She received three years of postdoctoral training at Columbia University Medical Center, at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain. While there, she spearheaded an international effort to define the earliest symptoms of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. She also has experience conducting research in consortium studies, providing cognitive expertise in teams that combine neuropsychological methods with cutting-edge biomarker, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation techniques.