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 is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine and contributes to a range of strategic projects across the health sector with a particular focus on ageing and dementia.

From 2017 to 2020, Janice was Director of the NHMRC National Institute for Dementia Research (NNIDR) where she guided the national effort to boost dementia research and its translation. She brings to Childhood Dementia Initiative’s Strategic Advisory Group a strong background in research policy, strategy and management across the STEM disciplines, the not-for-profit sector and industry engagement.

Janice has held senior research, strategy and management positions at Dementia Australia, four leading Australian universities, the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Queensland and the Australian Market & Social Research Society. She was also Chair of the Australasian Research Management Society from 2015 to 2017.