Janice Besch

“The best things happen when people bring passion, personal experience and commitment to a challenge that once seemed insurmountable. I am enormously impressed by Childhood Dementia Initiative’s achievements and am honoured to contribute to many more for children with dementia.”

Janice Besch is a Senior Associate with Outside Opinion and grant development lead at the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

She has held multiple leadership roles including Chief Executive Officer for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2020-2023 and as Director of the NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research (NNIDR) from 2017 to 2020.

At NNIDR Janice worked closely with Dementia Australia, NHMRC, the Office of Health & Medical Research/MRFF and the Department of Health's Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Branch to guide a $200m national effort to boost dementia research and its translation.

With a background in cultural policy and funding, and skilled in research policy, strategy and management across the not-for-profit sector, government and industry, Janice also contributes to quality and professional development for the research management profession as a Fellow of the Australiasian Research Management Society.