Maria is currently a research officer within the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research focuses on the area of ageing and dementia. Her main research interests are prevention, inequalities in accessing older-age prevention, and improving healthcare for older people and for people with dementia.
She was previously a visiting academic at the University of Oxford (Oxford Institute of Population Ageing) and also worked as an advisor for Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) and as a researcher at King’s College London (Global Observatory for Ageing and Dementia Care). Maria has also worked as a researcher and project manager at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and the Greek National School of Public Health.
Maria is co-author of the World Alzheimer Report 2016 on “Improving healthcare for people living with dementia: coverage, quality, and costs now and in the future” and of variou reports published by Public Health England on midlife risk factors for dementia. She is participating in many dementia and older people-related research projects.
She has an MSc in International Health Policy (LSE), an MSc in Psychology & Counselling (University of Sheffield), and a BSc in Psychology (Middlesex University).
Prior to joining CPEC, Maria worked for several years in clinical practice as director of a dementia day care centre (Alzheimer’s Hellas). Her team was nominated by the University of Stirling (The International Excellence Awards 2010) as “highly commended” for developing innovative programmes of non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia.
She is currently a member of the Emerging Research Board at the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK) and a member of World Young Leaders in Dementia (WYLD). She also collaborates with the Greek thinktank DIKTYO, a network for reform in Greece and Europe.