NIH Expands Nation's Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Research Capacity

The U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) has funded four exploratory Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) to further motivate innovative concepts and opportunities. They will extend current ADRC research projects with underrepresented populations like African Americans, Native Americans, and rural residents. The new ADRCs will be based at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, and Nashville's Vanderbilt University. The Nevada ADRC will devise new strategies in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to accumulate high-quality standardized clinical data from rural residents. The UAB effort will explore Alzheimer's disease disparities in the Deep South, and tap a network of research volunteers, including African Americans, to better understand why and how early life experiences may affect Alzheimer's risk. Meanwhile, UNM will focus on rural communities, especially Native Americans, using mobile on-site screening and testing. Finally, Vanderbilt's ADRC will harness the resources of the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center, which highlights vascular risk factors among African Americans and other groups disproportionately impacted by dementia yet historically overlooked in research.