Alzheimer's from all angles

ABOUT

The conference

Join Alzheimer’s Orange County and UCI MIND for the 32nd Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference. This free, half-day, virtual conference will cover a wide range of topics concerning Alzheimer’s disease, from updates on research, to treatments, diagnostics, risk factors, and genetic resilience. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on brain health will also be discussed.

  • Half-day educational conference free and open to the public
  • Event will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube
  • Sponsorship opportunities are available
  • CEUs will not be offered this year

Who should attend

Healthcare providers

Senior/social service providers

Researchers

Students

People living with dementia & their families

UCI MIND

UCI MIND is one of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation and the only center in Orange County. For more than 30 years, UCI MIND has served at the forefront of Alzheimer’s disease research, gaining international recognition for its scientific accomplishments.

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Alzheimer’s OC

Alzheimer’s Orange County is dedicated to providing quality care and support services to the thousands of residents of Orange County who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other related dementia, and also partnering with local researchers to populate clinical trials to help find a cure.

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AGENDA

Each talk features a 30 minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of LIVE Q&A

7:30 – 8:00 AM PT
PRE-EVENT SLIDESHOW
8:00 – 8:15 AM PT
WELCOME: THE STATE OF DEMENTIA RESEARCH & CARE IN 2021
Joshua Grill, PhD, University of California, Irvine (Moderator) | Jim McAleer, MPA, Alzheimer’s Orange County
8:15 – 8:55 AM PT
BLOOD TESTS FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: CLOSER BUT STILL NOT THERE (click for slides)
Sid O’Bryant, PhD, University of North Texas
8:55 – 9:00 AM PT
COMMERCIAL BREAK
9:00 – 9:35 AM PT
EXPLORING SEX DIFFERENCES & THE POSSIBILITY OF PROTECTIVE GENES
Dena Dubal, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
9:35 – 9:40 AM PT
COMMERCIAL BREAK
9:40 – 10:20 AM PT
VIRAL INFECTIONS & ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (click for slides)
Thomas Lane, PhD, University of California, Irvine
10:20 – 10:28 AM PT
COMMERCIAL BREAK
10:28 – 11:10 AM PT
NEIGHBORHOOD DISPARITIES: HOW WHERE YOU LIVE MIGHT IMPACT YOUR BRAIN HEALTH (click for slides)
Amy Kind, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin
11:10 – 11:15 AM PT
COMMERCIAL BREAK
11:15 – 11:55 AM PT
FUTURE FOCUSED: TREATMENT ADVANCEMENTS IN ALZHEIMER'S (click for slides)
Gregory Jicha, MD, PhD, University of Kentucky
11:55 AM – 12:00 PM PT
CLOSING REMARKS
Joshua Grill, PhD, University of California, Irvine

SPEAKERS

Joshua Grill, PhD

University of California, Irvine

Dr. Grill is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Neurobiology & Behavior at UCI. He serves as Director of UCI MIND, Associate Director of the UCI Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Leader of the Recruitment & Retention Unit for the UCI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. His research focuses on clinical trials across the spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease, and he has published a number of important findings on trial design, recruitment and retention, and research ethics.

Jim McAleer, MPA

Alzheimer's Orange County

Jim McAleer began his career in the nonprofit world at age eighteen while pursing an undergraduate degree in Savannah, Georgia. For the next 22 years, McAleer worked in leadership roles with non-profit organizations assisting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He earned a master’s degree in Public Administration at Northeastern University in 1994. After relocating to Southern California, McAleer began a comprehensive nonprofit consulting business specializing in organizational leadership and change, management transitions, strategic planning, and fundraising. McAleer & Associates, Inc. served dozens of clients over the next six years including Friends of El Faro, Street Poets, Crystal Cove Alliance, and more. Since 2004, Jim has held the role of President/CEO of Alzheimer’s Orange County, serving the 84,000+ people living in OC with, or at risk of, dementia. He manages 13 million dollars in income and a staff of 160. He has presented more than 100 professional presentations and has served on five nonprofit board of directors including Cal Optima.

Dena Dubal, MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco

Dena B. Dubal MD, PhD is a physician-scientist, Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco and holds an Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease. Dr. Dubal received her MD and PhD degrees from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She completed a medical internship and neurology specialty training at UCSF, where she served as chief resident. She directs a laboratory focused on mechanisms of longevity and brain resilience that integrates genetic and molecular approaches to investigate aging, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Her discoveries have been profiled in high-impact media such as NPR, Time, the Economist, and The New York Times. She has hosted an “Ask me Anything Series” on Reddit for cognitive enhancement and is a source of viewpoints for KQED and Science. Her work is recognized for its potential toward therapies to live longer and better. Among her honors, Dr. Dubal received the NIA/AFAR Paul Beeson Award for Aging Research, Glenn Award in Biologic Mechanisms of Aging, Grass Award in Neuroscience, and Neuroendocrine Research Award. She serves in the leadership of JAMA Neurology and on the Board of the American Neurological Association.

Gregory Jicha, MD, PhD

University of Kentucky

Dr. Jicha is a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky (UK). Dr. Jicha holds the Robert T & Nyles Y McCowan Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Research at UK. Dr Jicha directs the scientific efforts of the Clinical Core of the UK , NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center. He also operates the Telemedicine Cognitive Clinic at UK, designed to reach out to rural populations across KY for both clinical and research-related activities in the area of AD and related disorders. He is the principle investigator at UK for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) Group, the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC), serves on the Clinical Task Force and Steering Committee for the National Institute of Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Center Program, and also serves as the immediate past Chair of the the International Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Trials Advancement and Methodology Professional Interest Group. He has served as a past Chair of the American Academy of Neurology Geriatric Neurology Section. His current research interests lie in the areas of preclinical disease states, mild cognitive impairment, vascular contributions to dementia, and clinical trials of disease modifying therapies for degenerative dementias.

Amy Kind, MD, PhD

University of Wisconsin

Dr. Amy Kind, MD, PhD, is Director of the University of Wisconsin (UW) Center for Health Disparities Research, Leader of the Care Research Core of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Kind is an international leader in the field of social determinants of health, leading the team that developed the Neighborhood Atlas (https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/). Her work has had far-reaching policy impact, has been actively promoted by the NIH and published in top journals including The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Kind has earned multiple honors including the American Geriatrics Society Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement for Clinical Investigation, election as a Member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), graduate of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program and membership on a White House Task Force on Aging and Technology. Dr. Kind leads a multi-million dollar active NIH research funding portfolio and is routinely asked to advise state, federal and international entities. Her most recent NIH grant will provide a novel window into the mechanisms underlying neighborhood disadvantage exposure and Alzheimer’s Disease neurobiology.

Thomas Lane, PhD

University of California, Irvine

Tom Lane has been working in evaluating mechanisms governing neuroinflammation in response to infection, injury, or chronic neurodegenerative disease. After completing his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the UCLA School of Medicine, he did his postdoctoral work in neurovirology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Lane joined the Biological Sciences faculty at UC Irvine in 1998 where he is now a Chancellor’s Professor of Neurobiology & Behavior. At UCI, Dr. Lane has served as Director of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Research Center and Associate Director of the Institute for Immunology. Dr. Lane has been awarded a National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Collaborative Center Award as well as a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Early Translation Award dedicated to exploring the therapeutic potential of neural stem cells in treating human demyelinating diseases. Dr. Lane was elected as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020.
More recently, Dr. Lane’s laboratory is exploring how infection with SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, affects the CNS within the context of neuroinflammation and neurologic disease. In particular, his laboratory is examining how SARS-CoV-2 infection may affect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) neuropathology using unique mouse models with the hope of identifying pathways by which AD-associated neuropathology may be amplified as can lead to identifying novel interventional therapies for reducing disease progression.

Sid O’Bryant, PhD

University of North Texas

As the population of those aged 65 and over continues to grow, so does the diversity of the U.S. population. In fact, by 2060 approximately 27.5% of the population will be Hispanic and 15% African American. Dr. Sid O'Bryant is the principal investigator of the Health & Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities (HABS-HD), which is the most comprehensive study of Alzheimer’s disease among the three largest racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. ever conducted – African Americans, Mexican Americans, non-Hispanic whites. The goal of the HABS-HD program is to understand the life course factors, including biological, sociocultural, environmental, and behavioral, that impact risk for Alzheimer’s disease in late life. This work will ultimately lead to population-specific precision medicine approaches to treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease (i.e., “treating your Alzheimer’s disease”). In addition to being a global leader in Mexican American cognitive aging, Dr. O’Bryant is a global expert in precision medicine approaches to novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s disease among adults with Down Syndrome.