Senior Australian of the year, professor Henry Brodaty is in it for the long haul – national award a well-deserved recognition of decades long commitment

It’s been 54 years since Professor Henry Brodaty’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. From this pivotal moment, he has committed his considerable intellect, drive and importantly, personal conviction, to transformative work in dementia research, support and prevention. Having been named over the weekend as the 2026 Senior Australian of the Year, the outpouring of congratulations and support has been telling. Accolades from colleagues have not just affirmed the incredible work he has facilitated but also the persistent commitment to pushing for improvement, and standing by those impacted by this cruel disease, in the quiet and difficult moments out of the spotlight.

Family beginnings

Surviving unspeakable horror across the 30’s and 40s in Poland, Brodaty’s family eagerly awaited papers that would take them to the USA. While heading to America didn’t work out, Australia, through the kindness of a stranger that would sponsor his family, was to become his new home.

In his acceptance speech, Brodaty shared an intimate and cherished relationship with his parents, and Australia, “I was a one-year-old, arriving in this country with Holocaust-survivor parents, this makes this a poignant and extraordinary award for me.”

Brodaty, speaking to SBS, remembers the difficulty of the early years as migrants, “it was tough, we all lived in the one room in the boarding house, until I was 7.”

“There was a communal kitchenette and bathroom, it’s very different from the life I’ve been able to live since then.”

Formative years

After living for nearly 6 years in a communal boarding house, the family moved to Bondi, and Brodaty went to the public school at Bondi and Randwick Boys. Early on Brodaty showed a desire to commit to goals with substance, he worked hard and got into medicine, eventually studying to be a physician. And while he wasn’t exactly sure of where he’d end up, there was a pull in a very specific direction.

“I knew I wanted to work in the brain.”

Brodaty ended up taking the track of psychiatry and still practices today. But it was a quiet and monumental moment in his personal life that would propel the incredible work he has committed to until the present day and beyond.

“In 1973 my father, at the age of 52, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease”, Brodaty shares. “He actually died in 1979 at the age of 59 of a heart attack but he had been debilitated by the Alzheimer’s disease.”

Dementia Australia

Brodaty notes a shift after his father’s diagnosis. He started to, “receive referrals for people with dementia and I also received correspondence from a son of a patient I had been seeing, telling me about a new Alzheimer’s organisation in the U.S.”

Brodaty shares that, “in dealing with my grief, in 1981, I got together a group of people and we decided to form a similar organisation in Sydney.”

“It grew.” 

From starting in Sydney, the momentum continued, other groups were started and eventually Brodaty shares, the groups joined to be a driving force for dementia resources, care and research, “in 1984 we all got together and formed what was then called Alzheimer’s Australia and now it’s called Dementia Australia.”

He is buoyantly in awe of how big Dementia Australia has gotten, “when I was president we had a person half-time, now they have a huge budget and hundreds of staff.”

Change-maker

Brodaty’s work has spanned decades, mixing clinical work, research and public health advocacy to bring progress to Australia’s management of dementia, for those that desperately need it.

From a time in the 70s where comprehension of dementia was very limited, to Australia’s internationally recognised organisations that are world leaders, there are lynch-pins along the way that are change-makers. Brodaty is one such lynch-pin, a brilliant mind with a personal conviction to see excellence in research not only spring from the daily nuanced experiences of those with dementia, but their carers as well.

Seeking to come alongside those with dementia, and their carers, Brodaty has sought to shape academic research and search for improved support with a deep proximity with the oftentimes heart-wrenching experiences of those with dementia. As a medical researcher he was also one of the first to honour and shape research around the vital roles carers play across the aged care system.

Partnerships

Brodaty’s work has been characterised by listening and education. Co-founding UNSW’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, the organisation is now an internationally recognised research hub that seeks to further prevention, early diagnosis and treatment strategies through close relationships with those diagnosed and their loved ones.

The organisation continues to emphasise the necessity of continued community relationships, involvement and education, noting that frontier science and research in dementia must always be accessible to those who are most impacted. Whether that means going out to varied communities, and adjusting language to ensure understanding, resources and time are allotted to making the science accessible to all.

This has been a hallmark of Brodaty’s career, that any progress and excellence in the sciences must include and be accessible to all. His work as a public advocate for lifelong brain health has been marked by consistent involvement with multiple communities around Australia. He has sought to emphasise and create resources for the prevention and risk mitigation of neurological decline through evidence-based lifestyle and clinical approaches, in ways that can be understood by people of all backgrounds.

While committed to the excellence of research at the highest academic levels, colleagues and patients alike have attested that he has poured himself into being a champion for not only those living with dementia but their personal and professional carers as well. Advocates speak of seeing his persevering efforts to see improved services, support and understanding by people, of all ages and educations, in the areas of health and community systems.

2026 Senior Australia speech

Brodaty’s brain and heart have aligned for those with dementia and their carers. In his acceptance speech this week, he highlighted that the honour of the award should be encompassing all people who are older, and particularly, for the families and carers that have been standing alongside them in the difficult journey of aged care.

Brodaty also lent his voice to the vital need of reform now, “we can’t deny it – dementia is a national health priority.”

He used his platform to again call for national focus and energy in strategies to meet the growing needs of brain health, praising the public health campaigns of “slip, slop, slap”, and hoping to see such a prolific public awareness campaign for Australian’s navigating their brain journey.

Growing need

Dementia is Australia’s leading cause of death, and as advocates attest, a very real and growing public health concern. Brodaty’s work – and how he’s gone about it – is a blueprint to see excellence in research, partnered with the honouring of care and community support, done in the challenging reality of those diagnosed and caring.

Attention must only increase in this area as Australia pivots to meet the needs of an ageing population facing these neurological realities.

Elevating scientific progress, underpinned by an acute awareness of the human experience of dementia, for those diagnosed and caring is critical in the years ahead. Research and support must continue to be influenced by Brodaty’s approach, to persevere, organise and in so doing, extend accessible, accurate and timely research, resources and support, to the people, families and sectors navigating profoundly complex care journeys.

Brodaty continues to strive for human-centred excellence in dementia care, that lands in the reality of the complicated and makes a difference. He only hopes that many more will join the vital and innovative work he treasures.