Cleusa P Ferri is a psychiatrist and epidemiologist, and currently a Professor in the post-graduation program of the Psychiatry Department at the Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has contributed to the estimation of the global burden of dementia and to the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme for dementia. She is also a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel of Alzheimer’s Disease International and has contributed to a few ADI’s World Alzheimer Reports. Cleusa worked for more than a decade at King’s College London (UK), developing research on the epidemiology of dementia and other chronic conditions among older people in low- and middle-income countries. Currently in Brazil, she continues to carry out research, which focuses on the epidemiology and care provision for late-life mental disorders in low resourced settings.