Helen Tsui

Due to a close family friend having Parkinson's disease, Helen Tsui became interested in neurological disorders at a very young age.

“I was 10 years old when I first bought a book about memory. When the teacher joked about being able to benefit from what I was about to learn from the book, I never thought that years down the line, I would be writing a thesis on a debilitating disease that primarily affects memory”.

Helen completed her Bachelor of Science with honours at the University of Auckland and came to Dunedin to concurrently study clinical psychology and a PhD. Having done physiology and psychology in her undergraduate studies, she was able to combine the knowledge from these two areas in her PhD project.

“I am rather privileged to be supervised by leading researchers, Professor Robert Knight from the area of clinical psychology, Professor Cliff Abraham from neuroscience, and Dr Joanna Williams from anatomy. Their support, guidance and expertise in their fields mean that I can have faith that things will go well despite coming across obstacles”.

Her PhD project aims to find a blood test that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease at an early stage. Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is important because currently the confirmation of the diagnosis can only be done through a brain autopsy. With more and more people being affected by Alzheimer's disease worldwide, early diagnosis can help identify individuals at an earlier stage of the disease and allow medical intervention to take place before the disease has progressed to a severe stage.

For this project, she has been collecting fasting blood and administering neuropsychological tests to healthy older adults and individuals who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She is also doing a follow-up study of 276 individuals who were first tested 10 years ago.

“I am trying to see how many of the survivors of the original study have now developed dementia. Comparing the blood and neuropsychological data from these individuals with and without Alzheimer's disease will help us understand the disease and may help us find a non-invasive, diagnostic blood test”.

“Working on this PhD has allowed me to learn a lot. From specialised knowledge about neuropsychology and biology to things that I don't get to learn from textbooks and lectures - such as patience, sensitivity, empathy and keeping a poker face even during heartrending situations. It also makes me reflect on my own life and helps me be more appreciative and grateful of my family and what I have”.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, working with the older adults isn't always sad and depressing, Helen reflects.

“I've really enjoyed working with them and have shared a lot of laughter while listening to their stories, jokes, knowledge and insights. I think I am very privileged to be able to spend time with all the participants and their family members. They are very generous in giving me their time and helping me with the research by being in a testing situation that is often very distressing for everyone. I really hope that the results of the study will be able to contribute back to the society by helping people with Alzheimer's disease”.

Helen was the 2012 recipient of the Kate Sheppard Memorial Award.