Hello & welcome to my fundraising page,

Who am I? Carola (*or Caro as my friends know me) and I am an early career researcher working at the Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at Imperial College London. In the photo collage above you can see a summary of the amazing experiences I have had training and working as a scientist, presenting my research at conferences and taking beautiful images of neurons and glial cells in the brain. 

Fundraising: this year I have decided to challenge myself and walk 26 miles (42 km - equivalent to a marathon distance) in one day as part of the Trek26 London event and fundraise for Alzheimer's Society.

Why? I have both a professional interest and a personal reason for taking on this challenge and I believe that Alzheimer's Society is such a great charity that is not only supporting dementia research, but also people affected by dementia and their families.

Teamwork:  research and scientific breakthrough is all about teamwork, so together with 5 of my workmates (Leire, Sabina, Kjara, Xingjian and Maria) we are hoping to fundraise at least £1,500 to contribute to the amazing work that Alzheimer's Society is doing. Our team, A Step Closer, will be walking a total of 156 miles (252 km) which is close to walking from London to Cardiff, or Budapest to Vienna (150 miles)!

How will your donation help? 

• Research: £15 would cover 1 hour of a PhD students time, critical to research progress.
• Local services: £30 means 2 people could benefit from Alzheimer's Society community group support, such as Singing for the Brain.
• Vital support: £50 could pay for over 3 hours of essential support from one of the Dementia Advisers.

Thank you for your support! This means so much to me and to people affected by dementia.