A Call for Action
Creating an Optimal System of Brain Health Care in the United States
Preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are among the most important and urgent challenges of the 21st century.
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Brain Health Partnership
About
The risk and indications of Alzheimer’s can be recognized as much as 20 years before apparent symptoms. This is a window of opportunity to delay onset, improve overall health, lower costs, and increase clinical trial participation.
Together with our partners, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is seizing this window of opportunity to address these challenges and transform the broader landscape for brain health. We are advancing a comprehensive strategy to ensure brain health is included as an integral element of overall good health and cognitive decline is identified and addressed early.
To learn more about this work, download the full prospectus here.
Facts
Our Goal
Our goal is to improve health outcomes for people living with or at risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To accomplish this, our strategy will work to make a “check-up from the neck up” a routine aspect of clinical care, encourage people to make lifestyle choices that reduce their risk, accelerate the widespread availability of treatments and medicines, and reduce health care costs.
Our Strategy
Together with our partners we are building a culture of brain health and a better healthcare ecosystem. We are working to help build the prevention and care system we need, a future where:
- Families and Communities understand the importance of their brain health and view the brain as a vital organ— monitoring cognitive well-being, raising the topic of brain health with their loved ones and care providers, taking control of their own brain health and seeking out clinical research opportunities.
- Providers, Payers and Health Systems address brain health, early identification of cognitive impairment, and proactive, collaborative care by discussing changes in cognition with patients, tracking cognitive baselines, and guiding patients to appropriate assessments, diagnosis, referrals, and services. Systems support this by optimizing workflow and leveraging big data and analytics for better decision-making.
- Policymakers recognize the opportunity to maximize individual health outcomes, reduce total costs and minimize disruptions to the economy, as well as drive public health by advancing policies to support early and accurate detection and diagnosis, quality care, and aggressive research.
Resources
Visit the Resources page and read the latest from UsAgainstAlzheimer's on Brain Health.
Join the Campaign
One of the first major efforts of our Brain Health Partnership is our Campaign for Women’s Brain Health: a collaborative effort to empower women to drive fundamental change in the way we care for our brains.
Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's are women, and more than 60 percent of Alzheimer's and dementia caregivers are women. Our survey of more than 1,500 women found that 89% believe taking care of brain health is as important as other parts of the body, and 89% also believe that it’s something we should be talking about more. Yet few women act on brain health, and many are unsure what to do.
Join our Campaign and learn more about what it means to #BeBrainPowerful
Advisors
| Neelum T. Aggarwal, MD, FAMWA Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Gretchen Alkema, PhD Vice President of Policy and Communications. SCAN Foundation Julie Anbender Senior Advisor, Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health Rhoda Au, PhD Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology and Epidemiology Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health Karin Bolte Senior Director, Health Policy, National Consumers League Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD Founder and Chief Director, Center for Brain Health at The University of Texas at Dallas Malaz Boustani, MD Richard Fairbanks Professor of Aging Research, Indiana University School of Medicine Bruce Chernof, MD, FACP President and CEO, SCAN Foundation Lindsay Chura, PhD Senior Policy Advisor and Chief Scientific Officer, Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH), AARP Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Science Susan Dentzer Visiting Fellow, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy Nancy-Ann DeParle Partner, Consonance Capital Partners/(Previously) White House Office of Health Reform Jo Ann Jenkins CEO, AARP Shaliaja Korukonda Senior Director, Global Marketing, Neurology Business Group, Eisai Corinna E. Lathan, PhD Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair, AnthroTronix, Inc. Sarah Lenz Lock, JD Senior Vice President for Policy, AARP; Executive Director, Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH) Natalia Loskutova, MD, PhD Senior Scientist and Director of Evaluation, National Research Network, American Academy of Family Physicians Brendan Manquin Vice President, US Alzheimer’s Franchise, Biogen William Mansbach, PhD Founder and CEO, Mansbach Health Tools LLC Katie Maslow, MSW Visiting Scholar, Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Lisa McGuire, PhD Lead, Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thomas J. McInerney President and CEO, Genworth Financial, Inc. |
Bill Novelli Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University Michael Monson Senior Vice President Medicaid & Complex Care at Centene Corporation Kevin Donnellan Chief of Staff, AARP Linda Elam, PhD, MPH Plan President, Amerigroup/D.C. Medicaid Howard Fillit, MD Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) Lori Frank, PhD Senior Behavioral Scientist, RAND Corporation Jill Goldstein, PhD Professor, Psychiatry and Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Executive Director, Women, Heart, and Brain Global Initiative Philip B. Gorelick, MD, MPH Adjunct Professor of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Glenda Greenwald Founder and President Aspen Brain Institute Henry Harbin, MD Adviser/Board member, Brain Futures Inc.; Former CEO Magellan Health Services Katherine Hayes, JD Director of Health Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center Karin Hellsvik Director, Global Patient Advocacy, Biogen Marsha Henderson Former Associate Commissioner for Women’s Health and Director of the Office of Women’s Health (OWH), U.S. Food and Drug Administration Richard S. Isaacson, MD Weill Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital Director, Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic, Weill Cornell Memory Disorders Program Dean Ornish, MD Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute Cheryl Phillips, MD, AGSF President and CEO, SNP Alliance Kathleen Sebelius, MPA CEO, Sebelius Resources LLC; Former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Obama Nora Super, MPA Senior Director, Center for the Future of Aging, Milken Institute Pierre N. Tariot, MD Director, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and Research Professor of Psychiatry University of Arizona College of Medicine Jürgen Unützer, MD, PhD Professor and Chair, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington; Founder, AIMS Center, University of Washington Liz Walsh Anne Tumlinson Innovations Charlotte Yeh, MD Chief Medical Officer, AARP Services, Inc. |
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