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.