ADRC News

The Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) is the world's largest and most influential international meeting dedicated to advancing dementia science. This year, due to the widespread concerns about COVID-19, the Alzheimer's Association canceled the in-person conference that was scheduled for the Netherlands and moved the event online. International investigators, clinicians and care researchers will come together virtually July 27-31 to discuss the latest studies, theories and discoveries that will help bring the world closer to breakthroughs...

Howard Rowley, MD, the Joseph F. Sackett Professor of Radiology in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Radiology, received the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) 2020 Gold Medal. The ASNR Gold Medal is awarded on the basis of both professional and personal excellence. Dr. Rowley is internationally recognized for his contributions to stroke trials, dementia research and advanced imaging techniques. As an investigator in the Wisconsin ADRC, he is an important...

Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP, received the Rick L. Bollinger Clinician of the Year Award from the Association of Veterans Affairs Speech-Language Pathologists (AVASLP). This award recognizes an individual who provides outstanding clinical services to communicatively or swallowing impaired veterans.

Dr. Rogus-Pulia is a Faculty Affiliate with the Wisconsin ADRC, as well as a Wisconsin ADRC Research Education Component (REC) Scholar.

Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD, has been invited to lead the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)'s new Diversity Taskforce. This taskforce will work to develop strategies to increase the rate of recruitment of under-represented minorities, analyze and publish existing ADNI data related to diversity and health disparities, and generate scientific aims relevant to health disparities for the study.

ADNI is a longitudinal multi-center study with 63 contributing sites, including the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC).

Scientists discovered a new gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease that is involved with the development of amyloid plaques in the brain. In a study by the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and published in JAMA Neurology, researchers concluded that reduced expression of the gene RBFOX1 correlated with higher levels of amyloid in the brain and decreased thinking skills in participants. 

The research team, which included Wisconsin ADRC investigators Sterling Johnson, PhD, and Corinne...

Scientists within the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and internationally have found evidence that tau PET (positron emission tomography) scans are highly specific to Alzheimer’s disease. In a study published in December 2019, Tobey Betthauser, PhD, concluded that the presence of both amyloid and tau protein deposits are associated with cognitive decline during the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease. Similarly, a study led by Oskar Hansson of Skåne University Hospital in Sweden and published...

Older African Americans are about twice as likely as older non-Hispanic white people to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. A recent article in O The Oprah Magazine examines these disparities and offers hope for the future.

Several prominent Alzheimer's disease researchers are featured in the article, including Wisconsin ADRC faculty affiliate Megan Zuelsdorff, PhD, assistant professor in the UW School of Nursing. Zuelsdorff studies chronic stress and Alzheimer's disease.

"Researchers Explain Why Black Americans...

Voice of the Wisconsin Badgers, Matt Lepay, is raising awareness of Alzheimer's disease and promoting researchers at the UW through a new public service announcement. In the message, Lepay, who lost his mother to Alzheimer’s disease in 2017, talks about his mother’s disease and why it inspired him to share his family’s story. The PSA is running on iHeart radio stations throughout Wisconsin.

A news story about Lepay featured UW Health memory care doctor and Alzheimer’s...

People in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the United States may face greater odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease-related brain changes, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Using a technique they developed that links neighborhood socioeconomic information with brain bank samples, researchers found an association between neighborhood disadvantage and the presence of Alzheimer’s disease-related brain changes shown during an autopsy. Study data showed that people who lived in the...

Art Walaszek, MD, a geriatric psychiatrist at UW Health and investigator in the Wisconsin ADRC, was a recent guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's "The Morning Show." He discussed how COVID-19 is affecting people with dementia, shared tips for dementia prevention, and answered listener questions.

"Can Positive Thinking Prevent Dementia?" aired on WPR on June 10, 2020. Listen to an archived recording of the program.