Howard Chertkow

Administrative Assistant: Jacinta Lesmond, jlesmond@research.baycrest.org

Research Synopsis

Dr. Chertkow is a practicing cognitive neurologist at Toronto’s Baycrest Health Sciences Centre, where he Is also Senior Scientist and Chair in Cognitive Neurology and Innovation at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute. Prior to 2018 he was a Professor at McGill University in Montreal Canada. He is now a Professor in the Dept. of Medicine (Neurology) at University of Toronto. At Baycrest he is also director of the new Bank Family Clinical Trials Unit and the Kimel Family Central for Brain Health. Dr. Chertkow is an active researcher in the area of dementia. His major areas of research interest include early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and prediction of deterioration in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment, and therapy of cognitive disorders in Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal dementia using neuromodulation approaches such as transcranial direct current stimulation. Dr. Chertkow’s lab is now focused on developing transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as ancillary therapy in elderly individuals with neurodegenerative disease. Thirty-two of his publications have over 100 citations, and three of the publications have been cited over 2000 times. He is senior author of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which has become an international standard for diagnosis of MCI, has been cited over 21,000 times and is the most cited paper in the field of neurology in the world in the 21st century. Dr. Chertkow is on Stanford University’s 2020 list of “Top 2% Cited Scientists”. In 2014 Dr. Chertkow became the Scientific Director for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a national organization established by the Canadian government via CIHR and partners. CCNA, now approved for a five year Phase 3 beginning in April 2024, is the largest grant every awarded in dementia research in Canada, and brings together 320 leading Canadian dementia researchers to establish national teams and platforms to produce breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of the dementing illnesses.