UCI MIND faculty member and professor in the School of Public Health, Karen D. Lincoln, PhD, MSW, MA, FGSA, is featured in Authority Magazine as being one of the top inspirational Black women in medicine. Read the full interview here To learn more about Dr. Lincoln's research to address health disparities in Black communities, visit her faculty profile or her website: Advocates for African American Elders Dr. Karen D. Lincoln
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OC World produced documentary "Hope Dies Last", featuring UCI MIND faculty members, Drs. Joshua Grill and Leslie Thompson, wins the Golden Mike Award for best documentary. "Hope Dies Last" creates a narrative around the impact of Alzheimer's disease on California communities and the stories of families who find hope in the darkest of times. The documentary, produced by OC World, was awarded Best Long Form Programming or Documentary at the 73rd Annual Golden Mike Awards. Read the full article here. View the documentary here. https://youtu.be/wABhpdiZO0E
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Message from the Director Dear Friends of UCI MIND, Advances in the field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and the contributions of UCI MIND investigators remain tremendously exciting. Two new drugs have been approved by the FDA (page 3). These approvals are believed by many to represent the dawn of a new age in AD research and treatment. Both drugs received accelerated approval and we await a decision from the FDA about “full approval” for lecanemab. If received, full approval could cause the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to revisit their previous coverage decision about anti-amyloid antibody therapies. These…
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The UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) is pleased to announce that the inaugural recipient of the “UCI MIND Joan and Don Beall Scholar Award” is S. Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD. Dr. Sajjadi is an Associate Professor of Neurology in the UCI School of Medicine. A clinician scientist with an established track record of studying different neurodegenerative pathologies across the aging spectrum, Dr. Sajjadi has demonstrated himself as an outstanding investigator and an important contributor to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) research and clinical care at UCI. He is an investigator in the UCI Alzheimer’s…
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The topline results for the Anti-Amyloid treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (A4) study were released today (https://a4study.org). Unfortunately, the drug being investigated, solanezumab, failed to demonstrate a benefit in slowing memory changes in a population of individuals age 65-to-85 who met criteria for preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Preclinical Alzheimer’s is a relatively new construct. It includes people who are older and have normal memory performance, but in whom biological tests suggest that the risk for Alzheimer’s disease dementia is high. The A4 study was among the first ever preclinical AD trials, boldly blazing a trail that has now been followed by…
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Dr. Joshua Grill and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh have been awarded a 3.5 million dollar grant by the National Institute on Aging to advance the field’s understanding of real-world patient and family member reactions to biomarker-informed Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD) diagnoses and to provide critical information for directing post-diagnostic resources to monitor and support those most in need. Read the full news story about this important research here Joshua D. Grill, PhDDirector, UCI MIND; Professor, Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Neurobiology and Behaviorphoto: Steve Zylius/UCI
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UCI MIND faculty member and psychiatrist, David Sultzer, MD, has been awarded a $12 million dollar grant by the NIA to test a novel prevention treatment. He, along with two other Southern California researchers will test an experimental vaccine to prevent Alzheimer's disease. The Orange County Register covered the story. Read the article here.
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On February 17, 2023, a bipartisan group of Senators sent the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Javier Baccera, and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, a letter requesting that CMS reconsider their decision to require Coverage with Evidence Determination (CED) that was levied after the accelerated approval of aducanumab. The letter followed a similar request from the Alzheimer’s Association, made in December 2022. The CED decision significantly limited access to aducanumab and other monoclonal antibodies (should they be approved), requiring that coverage would be granted only if Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in…
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Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones UCI MIND faculty member and Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, Mathew Blurton-Jones Jones, PhD, has been awarded Early Career Innovator/Emerging Innovation of the Year by UCI Beall Applied Innovation. Read the full article here.
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Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a form of dementia that typically affects individuals in their 50s and 60s. It is therefore, commonly referred to as young onset dementia. Clinically, FTD can present in two ways; some patients present with behavioral impairment and are referred to as behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD). The other main presentation involves language decline and is called primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Both conditions start insidiously and accurate diagnosis can be a challenge, especially at early stages of the disease. In bvFTD, patients can present with apathy, lack of empathy, increased appetite, preference for sweet tooth, new onset of…
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