Press Releases

40-Percent Alzheimer’s Funding Increase Is Victory for All Americans

May 1, 2017

A bipartisan agreement to increase Alzheimer’s funding by $400 million at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for FY 2017, part of a total spending increase of $2 billion at NIH, is a major achievement. Congressional leaders, bolstered by thousands of advocates, including patients, caregivers, family members and allies, have responded to the urgent need to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, which affects more than 5.5 million Americans.

Nurse Practitioners Are Not Regularly Assessing Brain Health and Need Standardized Assessment Tools to Regularly Conduct Critical Brain Health Assessments

April 24, 2017

Important new survey findings released today by WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s and the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH) show that approximately 30 percent of nurse practitioners (NPs) in women’s health do not raise brain health issues with patients, while only 18 percent of nurse practitioners occasionally broach the issues during office visits. In fact, 68 percent of the time, patients are raising brain health issues, rather than the nurse practitioners treating them.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Mourns Passing of Adored and Inspirational Co-Founder and Vice-Chair Trish Vradenburg

April 18, 2017

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Co-Founder and Vice Chair Trish Vradenburg’s unflinching spirit – her creativity and imagination, quick-witted humor, empathy, generosity and her exceptional tenacity to stop the suffering of others – was captured in her every action. It is with immense sadness that UsAgainstAlzheimer’s announces her passing, and it is with the utmost gratitude that the organization cherishes her legacy and forges ahead in her memory.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Urges Congress to Say “No” to Proposed FY 2017/18 NIH Budget Cuts

March 28, 2017

Doubling down on the deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its proposed FY 2018 budget, the Administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts for FY 2017, a reduction of $1.2 billion from current levels, represent an assault on the hopes of millions with Alzheimer’s and related dementias who are desperate for a cure.

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Strongly Opposes Devastating Proposed Cuts to NIH Budget that Would Undermine Progress Made against Alzheimer’s – the Nation’s Costliest Disease

March 16, 2017

President Trump’s call for deep cuts in scientific research in his Fiscal Year 2018 budget request undermines important progress being made to cure Alzheimer’s – a disease that affects more than 5.5 million Americans and will cost the nation $259 billion in 2017. UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is urging the Administration and Congress to reject any plans that diminish the nation’s ability to fight Alzheimer’s and continue investments in important scientific research by committing to funding NIH.

Why 2020?

UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has retained its goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020 rather than endorsing the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that calls for preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025. While we support the national plan and its goals, we believe, as most every family touched by Alzheimer’s disease believes, that preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025 is simply too long a wait for concrete progress. There are promising avenues of drug discovery and development that will, if successful, deliver a means of slowing or deferring Alzheimer's symptoms by 2020. By voicing the urgency felt by so many families, we will pressure researchers and industry to do all in their power to make that happen.