Dr Sharon Savage is a clinical neuropsychologist and researcher, with a focus on cognitive ageing, memory disorders, and neurodegenerative disease. She holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychology within the School of Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her work bridges clinical practice and translational research, with the aim of improving the early detection, differential diagnosis, and management of conditions affecting memory and cognition.

Dr Savage holds three degrees in Psychology: a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology from Macquarie University, and a PhD from the University of New South Wales. Her research career has included roles at Neuroscience Research Australia and the University of Exeter in the UK, where she held positions as a Research Fellow and then Lecturer in Ageing and Dementia. During this time, she collaborated on major international studies examining transient epileptic amnesia, cognitive ageing, and psychosocial interventions for people living with dementia.

Her research expertise spans a range of conditions impacting memory and language, including frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia, and transient amnesic syndromes. She also has an interest in brain fog in perimenopause and dementia risk reduction. A central theme of her work is distinguishing between conditions that present with similar symptoms but have very different causes, trajectories, and treatment implications.

Through HMRI, she collaborates with clinicians and researchers to translate advances in cognitive science into meaningful improvements in diagnosis, care, and outcomes for people experiencing cognitive change and their families.”