In a new series, we hear directly from the team behind Ayla — their perspectives on dementia care, the evidence shaping our work, and where the sector needs to go next.
To begin, Ayla CEO Devika Wood, MPH reflects on her experience at the International Dementia Conference in Sydney, and on the contrast between how dementia is discussed in Australia and the UK.
From the International Dementia Conference, Sydney
“I flew to Sydney for a dementia conference and came back thinking about how differently we talk about this disease.
In Australia, the conversation was not primarily about managing decline. It was about brain health. About prevention. About the whole person — who they were before the diagnosis, what they loved, what shaped them, not just the clinical picture in front of you.
I sat in sessions where lived experience was not a footnote. It was the framework. And the most striking thing was how little the conversation felt clinical. It felt human.
That is not always how we talk about dementia in the UK.
We tend to lead with the disease. The diagnosis. The trajectory. We speak in terms of what is being lost rather than what remains and what can be protected.
The evidence for what structured, person-centred intervention can do is sitting right there. But our conversations, our systems, and too often our care, still organise themselves around the assumption of inevitable decline.
I came home more convinced than ever that the shift we need is not just clinical. It is cultural. We need to start seeing the person before the dementia.
This is why our forthcoming new branding matters so much. Our old full stop was a beautiful detail, but full stop? It doesn't go anywhere.
On reflection, it became clear that the full stop was actually a direct contradiction to what we are trying to achieve at Ayla. We believe a diagnosis is not a full stop.
Now, for our new branding, it's about what the full stop turns into: engagement, conversation, appetite, mood and dignity.
We hope it will be a sign of hope for those with dementia, their families and the wonderful workforce who support them every day.”
Devika Wood, CEO, Ayla