Dr. Faith Simushi

Dr. Faith Simushi, Consultant Neurologist
SES Kitwe Clinic, Kitwe, Zambia

Professional Profile

Dr. Faith Simushi is a Consultant Neurologist based in Kitwe, Zambia. She serves at Specialty Emergency Services (SES) Kitwe Clinic, providing expert physician and neurology services. Dr. Simushi holds a Master of Medicine in Neurology from the University of Zambia and completed a fellowship in Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

A dedicated clinician-researcher and advocate, Dr. Simushi’s work focuses on establishing foundational epidemiological and clinical data for cognitive disorders in Zambia. She was part of the Zambian Cohort of Healthy Aging and Dementia (Z-CHAD) team, conducting population-based research across Lusaka and surrounding areas to estimate dementia prevalence and identify associated risk factors. Additionally, she led research on the unmet care needs of people living with dementia at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) outpatient neurology clinic, as well as an American Neurological Association (ANA)-funded study on identifying reversible cognitive impairment in HIV-negative individuals—work that earned an Abstract of Distinction when presented at the 2024 ANA Annual Meeting.

She is currently the Principal Investigator for Twaano Twesu (“Our Stories”), an Alzheimer’s Association and GBHI-funded study leveraging patient and caregiver lived experiences to improve community dementia literacy across Zambia. She is also actively involved in national brain health advocacy through Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias in Zambia (ADDIZ).

Research Interests

• Characterization of Dementia Subtypes in Zambia: Phenotyping dementia presentation in local populations—mapping clinical heterogeneity, symptom onset patterns, and investigative findings (neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and laboratory biomarkers) across Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), and vascular phenotypes.
• Reversible Cognitive Impairment & Neurometabolic Profiling: Screening for and characterizing treatable or secondary causes of cognitive decline.
• Health Services & Care Pathways: Evaluating unmet medical, psychosocial, and caregiver needs for patients presenting to outpatient neurology clinics in resource-limited settings.
• Community-Based Participatory Interventions: Utilizing co-created video storytelling and narrative media to enhance public health literacy and combat stigma.

Keywords

Dementia Care, Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Reversible Cognitive Impairment, Neurodegeneration, Clinical Neurophenotyping, Diagnostic Biomarkers, Shared lived experience, Dementia knowledge