UsA2 to play key role in minority outreach and recruitment hub

Washington, DC (December 13, 2017) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded up to $70 million to build a nationwide infrastructure that would accelerate and expand the development of techniques to treat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

According to NIH, “the infrastructure of 35 sites across the United States – called the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC) – will address the timeframe, complexity and expense of the recruitment process and site activation for Alzheimer’s trials to find new and effective ways to treat or prevent these devastating disorders.” 
  
The grant, which includes a team dedicated to addressing diversity issues, will involve UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Executive Director of AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer’s, Stephanie Monroe, who will play a key role in the Minority Outreach and Recruitment Hub. Monroe will offer leadership to selected sites regarding effective engagement of racially and ethnically diverse participants in Alzheimer’s clinical studies.  Additionally, the project will benefit from the support of Jason Resendez, Executive Director of the LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s Network and Coalition. Resendez will provide guidance on Latino community engagement and outreach, facilitating collaboration between researchers and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s robust network of Latino leaders and community-based organizations. 

“This is an exciting opportunity to address challenges and barriers to minority participation in clinical trials, especially with a disease like Alzheimer’s that is having, and projected to have, an increasingly devastating impact on communities of color,” said Monroe.

Fewer than five percent of clinical trials participants are African Americans even though older African Americans are two to three times more likely to have Alzheimer’s compared to non-Hispanic whites. More than 20 percent of Americans with Alzheimer’s are African American. According to an UsAgainstAlzheimer’s report, while African Americans make up only close to 14 percent of the U.S. population, they bear a third of the costs of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Latinos make up fewer than one percent of clinical trial participants despite making up 17 percent of the U.S. population. Research from USC’s Roybal Institute on Aging and LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s projects the number of Latinos living with Alzheimer’s or dementia will reach 3.5 million by 2060 if an effective treatment is not discovered. 

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UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (UsA2) is an innovative non-profit organization demanding – and delivering – a solution to Alzheimer’s. Driven by the suffering of millions of families, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s presses for greater urgency from government, industry and the scientific community in the quest for an Alzheimer's cure – accomplishing this through effective leadership, collaborative advocacy, and strategic investments. 

Founded in 2010, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has worked across sectors to: (1) secure the national goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025 and help secure nearly $500 million in additional public funding for Alzheimer’s research over the past few years; (2) drive global efforts that resulted in the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations, the G7, to embrace a similar 2025 goal and to call for greater levels of research investment and collaboration; and (3) forge industry commitments to improve efficiencies for an expedited drug discovery and approval process. More information is available at https://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/.

AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer’s, a network of UsA2, aims to unify the powerful voice of the African American community in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The network arms African Americans and others who are committed to our mission with the information and easy-to-use connections needed to be heard by the public, in Washington and in state capitals, and by industry leaders and the research community. Their goal is to engage and connect a network of individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to mobilize the energy of African Americans in advocacy efforts that advance our national commitment to ending Alzheimer’s. More information can be found at https://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/networks/african-americans.

LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s, a network of UsA2, marshals resources and action to address the growing impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia on our nation’s 55 million Latino families. Through a network of cross-sector stakeholders, LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s spearheads strategic convening and coalition building, legislative advocacy, and culturally tailored education and brain health promotion efforts across the country. 

Media Contact:

Ranit Schmelzer

202.538.1065

rschmelzer@usagainstalzheimers.org