IN MEMORIAM

In an April 18, 2017 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s blog post, Jill Lesser, President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s and UsAgainstAlzheimer's board member, paid tribute to the passing of Trish Vradenburg, UsA2 Co-Founder and inspirational figure to so many. “She worked a room like no other – recently racking up 20 Senators in a weekend to join her Alzheimer’s Party – a place where she felt strongly we all could and should come together. The best thing though was seeing Trish recount these successes – she took such pleasure in making people see just how important this cause is and would stop at nothing to make others see the light!”  

An April 18, 2017 The Hollywood Reporter article reported on the passing of Trish Vradenburg and highlighted her career as a writer, philanthropist, and advocate. Trish wrote in an UsAgainstAlzheimer's blog post: "A cure for Alzheimer's: a fantasy, a wish, an impossible dream; the same words that were said to Galileo, Edison, Curie, Salk and whoever dreamed up the Internet. Yesterday's dream is today's reality."

An April 18, 2017 The Washington Post article reported on the accomplished life of Trish Vradenburg as a successful political speech writer, television screenwriter, humorist and nationally known activist for Alzheimer’s research. According to Trish, “We need more money, and I’m not going to stop asking for it. I’ve got nothing to lose now. I will shake a congressman. I recently told one that if he had any questions, I’d be waiting right outside his door. You don’t have a mother like mine and not stick around for as long as it takes.”

Trish's passing has also been noted by other outlets including: Deadline, Pop Culture, Portland Press Herald, and Womanista, among others. 

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An April 17, 2017 The Huffington Post article by Greg O’Brien, UsAgainstAlzheimer's advocate, shined a light on his dear friend, Bob Bertschy, who recently died from Alzheimer’s disease. Greg himself has AD, and the two would meet to talk about their fears. O’Brien writes, “Reserved in so many fundamental ways, Bob is reaching out in these final moments to close male friends to tell them that he loves them, something he was averse to do in the past… ‘I love you,’ Bob tells them from the heart, still feeling a bit discomfited at the invocation, a little awkward, but he knows in his soul it’s the right course.”

MUST READS

An April 18, 2017 The Washington Post opinion piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel focused on the March for Science rallies taking place nationwide and around the world on Earth Day this weekend. The message that “science is a vital feature of a working democracy” is meant to combat the 2018 budget blueprint’s slashing of NIH funding. Just in 2016, NIH distributed more than $23.5 billion in grants to support research including cancer, Alzheimer’s, mental health and blindness.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

An April 17, 2017 MedPage Today article reported that different factors appear to protect against the two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, amyloid deposition and neurodegeneration, according to the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Protection against both factors is important and "advanced age and greater genetic risk of Alzheimer's does not imply that individuals will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, management of overall health of an individual is important for healthier brain aging,” according to Prashanthi Vemuri, PhD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota).