University Center ROMENS

The Leenaards Memory Centre (head Pr J-F. Demonet) at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) , supported by the Leenaards Foundation, obtained in 2018, thanks to this support, the necessary funds to extend its “CLEMENS” informatics platform to the 3 regional memory centres in Vaud Canton as well as the Memory Centre (head Pr G. Frisoni) of Geneva University Hospital (HUG). This implementation of informatics resources is now effective; it makes it possible to triple the volume of individual dataset from patients who gave informed consent.

In this favorable context, the “Association Vaud – Geneva”, bringing together the 2 university hospitals in the Leman Lake region (CHUV and HUG), signed the Convention establishing the “CU ROMENS”, an overarching, University-supported organization in the French-speaking Switzerland, so-called “Romandie” (hence CU ROMENS that stands for University Centres in  Romandie Organization for Memory and NeuroScience). The vision for ROMENS is disseminating the CLEMENS concept to memory centres in the other French-speaking cantons, such as in Valais and Fribourg where preliminary steps are on going.

CU ROMENS is headed for the next 2 years by Prof. J-F. Démonet. CU ROMENS will help to develop the harmonization of care and research in the field of cognitive pathologies in the elderly brain, such as Alzheimer's disease.

The ROMENS research registry aims to collect data of scientific and demographic interest concerning patients with memory and/or cognitive disorders that are progressive and suspected to lead to dementia. The registry is building a regional database on the clinical, biological and neuroimaging profiles of the patients of the Memory Centres with the aim of contributing to the screening and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.

The registry was created on the initiative of the Memory Centres of the CHUV and HUG, an initiative joined by several Memory Centres of the Canton of Vaud and the French-speaking region. The implementation of the ROMENS registry was sponsored by donations from the Leenaards Foundation.

Patients who consult one of the Memory Centres may be asked to give their consent to the re-use of their medical data, either through the general consent of the CHUV and HUG, or through a specific consent of the participating Memory Centres. Participation in the ROMENS registry is voluntary and does not affect their medical treatment.

If you wish to obtain information about the ROMENS registry or to update your participation in the registry you can contact us at the address below.