A roadmap for conducting more inclusive brain resilience research on aging and dementia

Observed variabilities in cognitive and brain aging trajectories may be due to individualized and community-level differences in resilience. This in turn likely interacts with an individual’s biological sex, and sociocultural gender. However, there remains no clear guidance on how to best integrate diversity-related factors, in clinical and cognitive neuroscience research on resilience in aging and dementia. The international Brain Resilience and Diversity in Aging and Dementia (BReDAD) Collaboratory was established in 2024 with the goals of synthesizing knowledge, identifying knowledge gaps, and developing recommendations for conducting more inclusive research on resilience in aging and dementia. A focused review of the literature, including discussions and recommendations of the Collaboratory, leads to a roadmap for integrating diversity in future resilience research that includes: i) developing trust and meaningful long-term relationships with communities historically excluded from research, ii) diversifying who is engaged in all aspects of the research process, iii) adapting life course perspectives, iv) improving and expanding research designs and measurement tools, and v) using sensitive computational analytics and mixed methods for testing complex, intersectional, models. We conclude by recommending a transdisciplinary approach in resilience research to better reflect the complexities inherent in studying diversity and developing precision medicine outcomes.