USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An October 19, 2015 Research!America press statement announced that UsAgainstAlzheimer’s co-founders George and Trish Vradenburg will receive the 2015 Gordon and Llura Gund Leadership Award. According to the statement, “Research!America’s 20th annual Advocacy Awards will honor exceptional advocates for research whose achievements in their fields have brought hope to patients worldwide…The honorees are those whose leadership efforts have been notably effective in advancing our nation’s commitment to research.” Read UsA2’s statement on the announcement here. 

An October 19, 2015 Congressional Directed Medical Research Program article profiled ClergyAgainstAlzheimer’s founder Lynda Everman and her life’s work as an Alzheimer’s advocate. According to Everman, “I truly believe that it is through individual effort that we can make a collective difference. My husband participated in clinical trials and, at death, donated his brain for autopsy. I've participated in walks and fundraisers and in a clinical study for cognitively healthy adults, and I've joined the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative's Registry. I've written to every member of Congress, asking them to make the vision of the National Alzheimer's Project Act a reality, to dedicate sufficient funding to advance research, and to cosponsor the Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer's Act and the Alzheimer's disease semipostal.  With 16 other caregivers and their loved ones, I participated in an awareness project to create the video ‘Alzheimer's/Dementia Knows No Borders.’ I served as convener to the Clergy Against Alzheimer's network and co-edited a book of interfaith meditations, ‘Seasons of Caring: Meditations for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers.’”

MUST READS AND WATCH

An October 20, 2015 BU.edu article reported that BU School of Medicine researchers have discovered a new way to attack amyloid beta. According to the article, “Instead of clearing it from the brain, the scientists have found a compound that prevents the body from making it in the first place. They presented an unpublished preview of their discovery at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting on October 19, 2015. The work, funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, may eventually lead to a novel treatment for this deadly disease.”

An October 19, 2015 Wall Street Journal video highlighted new research that links thinking positively to healthy aging. According to the description, “Scientists are discovering something very peculiar about aging: thinking about getting older in terms of decline or growth can dictate how our bodies respond.” 

An October 19, 2015 WebMD.com article reported that “Researchers say they have moved closer to developing a blood test for Alzheimer's disease.” According to the article, “The scientists focused on use of autoantibodies in the blood as biomarkers for the presence and stage of Alzheimer's disease. Autoantibodies are immune proteins that mistakenly attack the body's own cells.”

POLITICS & POLICY 

An October 20, 2015 Vox.com article highlighted Jeb Bush’s health proposal and its focus on health innovation to tackle diseases like Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “Bush's plan, to his credit, begins with a long section on medical innovation. It notes that Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in America and costs the nation $226 billion each year, but it can't be ‘prevented, cured or slowed.’ It laments that the National Institutes of Health "lacks the resources to fund the most promising research." It worries over the fact that ‘medical research has identified the molecular causes of roughly 4,000 human diseases, but treatments only currently exist for approximately 250.’”