It’s time to pick up the pace on Alzheimer’s prevention

It’s time that we own up to a harsh reality: Our nation’s healthcare and economic systems are not prepared for the toll that dementia and Alzheimer’s are expected to take on America’s aging population. Given the latest trends in demographic data, there is growing concern that the U.S. is failing to focus on brain health and ways to potentially prevent the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease that is currently on pace to hit millions of American families. UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has been sounding the alarm on these issues, promoting more attention to brain health, and urging more aggressive steps on prevention. And

A road map for including Latinos and African Americans in Alzheimer’s research

* This piece originally appeared in STAT News. Alzheimer’s disease is the only leading cause of death in the U.S. that is still on the rise and that does not have a current effective treatment or cure. The limited inclusion of Latinos and African Americans in research will only worsen the outlook, though the success of efforts bubbling up across the country could help us keep up with the disease. The face of Alzheimer’s is changing, largely because the No. 1 risk factor for it is advanced age. By 2030, the number of Latinos age 65 and older will have

U.S. surgeons general: Dementia is our top public health crisis | Commentary

* This piece originally appeared in the Orlando Sentinal Over the span of more than 20 years and three presidents, as surgeons general we’ve confronted more than our fair share of devastating public health crises, from emerging infections like bird flu, SARS, the H1N1 pandemic, and Ebola, to the opioid crisis and national-preparedness issues like hurricanes and terrorist attacks. All of them are tragic. Each caused governments and private organizations to rally to understand the threat, inform the public, develop solutions, and minimize the impact as much as possible on American families and the economy. And as terrible as these

Alzheimer’s impact is a societal and economic issue, health advocate says

* This article originally appeared on Cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Alzheimer’s disease afflicts nearly 6 million people in the United States, and sadly affects the many more millions of people who love them. Yet the chairman and co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s believes that most people -- especially those who could help make a difference -- don’t grasp the overall scope and impact of the brain disorder, which progressively destroys thinking and memory skills. “Political leaders here and abroad are not responding at the scope and scale needed to beat back this disease,” says George Vradenburg, an Oberlin College graduate who, with

New hope for patients with Alzheimer's: How one family is fighting the disease

*This article originally appeared on Today.com Like his mother Virginia O'Brien before him, Greg O’Brien is battling Alzheimer’s disease with all his might. O'Brien's mother did everything she could to stave off the disease as she cared for her cancer-stricken, wheelchair-bound husband. And she did somehow manage to keep things going until her husband, O'Brien's father, died from prostate cancer. It was from watching his mother live with Alzheimer’s that allowed O'Brien to recognize the signs in himself and prompted him to see a neurologist at age 59. Brain scans that revealed he had Alzheimer’s, too. Shortly after his own

Forming Your “Circle of Help”

The best way to defeat Alzheimer’s is to come together and gang up on the disease.

Growing Our Voices: Let’s Talk About Dementia

1994: President Ronald Reagan penned his now famous letter to the American public announcing that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The same year, m y dad , at 81, had just been diagnosed with “memory problems”; my son Mike was a sophomore in high school; and I was three years into a new marriage and at the top of my Human Resources career. Three years later my husband Richard, at 57, was diagnosed with Mild C ognitive I mpairment . Dad died in 2001 from what I later learned was vascular dementia and Richard in 2012

“A Devil of a Disease”: The Current Alzheimer’s Pipeline

This article was originally published by BioSpace on August 7, 2019. By Mark Terry As anyone following Alzheimer’s research knows, drug development for the disease has been a wasteland of failed clinical trials with literally billions of dollars thrown at drugs that have proved ineffective at preventing or halting the disease. In March 2019, in what many felt was a turning point for the industry, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen and its collaboration partner, Tokyo-based Eisai, announced they were discontinuing the global Phase III clinical trials, ENGAGE and EMERGE, of aducanumab in patients with mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer’s and mild Alzheimer’s

My Birthday Wish

My name is Andres Martin and this week I turned 32 years old. I’m a proud father, husband, and veteran. Over the last couple of years, I’ve come to recognize how precious my birthdays are. My military service has taught me this, the birth of my daughter has taught me this, and my genes have taught me this. You see my family is from a region in Mexico that is host to the “Jalisco mutation,” a mutation which guarantees carriers will develop early-onset Alzheimer’s, and one for which I recently tested positive. My diagnosis answered a lot of questions. It

Welcome to the New Era of Alzheimer’s Research: How People with Alzheimer’s and Care Partners are Shaping the Future of Drug Development

This article was originally published by Lundbeck on July 17, 2019. By Mark Terry Leigh Callahan, PhD, is a respected epidemiologist and outcomes researcher who focuses on rheumatic disease. Her husband, John Winfield, MD, now retired, had a distinguished career as a researcher and rheumatologist. While their professional lives have focused principally on joints, they now find themselves at the leading edge of brain research. This is because John has Alzheimer’s, Leigh is his care partner, and together they are participating in a groundbreaking research project that seeks to generate patient/care partner insights and develop new meaningful, measurable outcomes that