Join UCI MIND, Alzheimer’s Orange County, and Alzheimer’s Association for the 34th Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference. This hybrid conference will cover a wide range of topics on sex and gender in dementia research and caregiving.
Healthcare providers
Senior/social service providers
Researchers
Students
People living with dementia & their families
Early Bird: $100
Regular: $125 (after 7/25/23)
Student: $75
CEUs: $30 (in-person only)
Virtual: $75
UCI MIND is one of 33 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.
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.
The Alzheimer’s Association Orange County Chapter is here to help families, caregivers, health care professionals, and those living with the disease by providing education and support, advocating for the needs and rights of those facing Alzheimer’s disease and all other dementia, and advancing critical research to develop new treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
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. 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.
Deborah Levy is an award-winning television news journalist and nonprofit executive with a broad and diverse background leading some of the world’s most recognizable and respected charities. She has raised more than $100 million during the course of her career for organizations that improve the lives of children and families, cancer research, and important capital projects. Deborah joined the Alzheimer's Association as executive director for Orange County in April 2021.
Joshua Grill, PhD is a 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.
Sarah Banks, PhD is a clinical neuropsychologist, and Associate Professor of Neuroscience at UC San Diego. Her work is in sex differences in the risk and expression of Alzheimer's disease. She uses neuroimaging, cognitive testing, fluid biomarkers, genetics and other methods to explore why women and men differ in the impact of AD. In addition to her research, she leads the Clinical Neuropsychology Program at the UC San Diego Center for Brain Health and Memory Disorders.
Elizabeth Chrastil, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior at UC Irvine and is a fellow of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory. Dr. Chrastil received her PhD from Brown University and did her postdoctoral work at Boston University. She also received an MS in biology from Tufts University and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Jason D. Flatt, PhD, MPH (Pronouns: He/Him/They/Them) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Health. Jason’s current research works to better understand concerns and needs of diverse sexual and gender minority populations, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual as well as additional identities) living with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and their care providers. In 2020, Jason received the Early-Stage Investigator Award from the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office. Jason’s research is funded by the National Institute on Aging, American Federation for Aging Research, The Alzheimer’s Association, and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Jason also works with several communities on www.theRISEregistry.org, the first NIA-funded registry for sexual and gender minorities experiencing memory loss or caring for someone with memory loss. Jason’s work has been featured in the NPR, U.S. News and World Report, The Advocate, Newsweek, as well as at the Alzheimer's Association. You can learn more about Jason’s research and team members at www.RainbowsofAging.org. Jason and their husband live in Las Vegas, NV with their three pups, Tuna, Bowie and Elton.
Timothy Hohman, PhD is an Associate Professor of Neurology, cognitive neuroscientist, and computational geneticist, with secondary appointments in the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute and Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Hohman's research leverages advanced computational approaches from genomics, proteomics, and neuroscience to identify novel markers of Alzheimer's disease risk and resilience. Within the Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center, Dr. Hohman is the director of the Biomarker Core, oversees the development of neuroimaging, proteomic, and big-data analytical pipelines, and is the Principal Investigator of the Computational Neurogenomics Team focused on Alzheimer's Resilience and Sex Differences. Outside of Vanderbilt, he has directed numerous multi-site collaborative initiatives, with as many as four analysis sites and 40+ contributing universities. Dr. Hohman directs the Genomics Core for the Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease Consortium and is co-chair of the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) Harmonization Consortium.
Michelle Mielke, PhD is Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Professor of Epidemiology, and Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Mielke works as a translational epidemiologist to further understanding of the etiology and epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases. One focus of her research is understanding the utility of blood-based biomarkers for implementation at the population-level for screening and diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Another focus of Dr. Mielke’s research is on understanding sex and gender differences in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Dr. Mielke is PI of several NIH-funded clinical- and epidemiological-based grants and has published over 400 manuscripts. She received the John R. Raymond Mentor Award from the Women Scholars Initiative and recently became a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Section on Neuroscience.
Elizabeth Mormino, PhD is a neuroscientist that applies multimodality imaging and biofluid techniques to understand disease progression and the neural correlates of behavioral and cognitive changes that occur in disease. Her primary research focus is on the intersection between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and human aging. Dr. Mormino completed a PhD in Neuroscience at UC Berkeley in the laboratory of Dr. William Jagust, where she performed some of the initial studies applying Amyloid PET with the tracer PIB to clinically unimpaired older individuals. During her postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Reisa Sperling and Keith Johnson at MGH she investigated longitudinal cognitive trajectories in unimpaired individuals with abnormal Alzheimer’s biomarkers. In 2017, Dr. Mormino joined the faculty at Stanford University in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences. She currently leads the Imaging Core of the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the longitudinal extension of the Stanford Aging and Memory Study.
Amanda Smith, MD is the Director of Clinical Research at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, FL. She received her undergraduate degree from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and her medical degree from Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her residency in Psychiatry and fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at USF. Her work focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of memory disorders, clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease, and education of both caregivers and health professionals. Dr. Smith has served as site Principal Investigator on numerous industry- and federally-funded multi-center research studies. She serves on the steering committees of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium, the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. She is a Forbes Health advisor, and a science advisory board member of HFC, a non-profit organization founded by Lauren and Seth Rogen to educate young people about brain health and provide caregiver grants to families living with Alzheimer’s disease.
Your conference registration includes one-time hotel self-parking validation (not valet) per person on Friday, August 25, 2023. Please bring your ticket inside to the Registration booth for your validation sticker.
The Hilton Irvine offers a 10% discounted rate.
For more information about the hotel, click here.
To book your room, please call Sara Kobrin at 949.812.3728 or email her at sara.kobrin@hilton.com
Your conference registration includes one-time hotel self-parking validation (not valet) per person on Friday, August 25, 2023. Please bring your registration email in print or on a mobile device inside to the Registration booth for your validation sticker. Be sure to park in Hilton Irvine designated parking only. Cars parked in lots or structures of other businesses will not be validated.
If you have general questions, please email conference@mind.uci.edu or call 949.824.9896. If you have any questions pertaining to exhibitors, please email akduski@alz.org or call 312.377.6636.
Attendees can request refunds until Monday, August 14, 2023. No refunds will be given for any cancellations received after this date. A $25 administrative charge will apply for all cancellations. For questions or to request a refund, email conference@mind.uci.edu or call 949.824.9475. No half-day registrations or partial CEUs will be provided.
You will receive an email confirming your registration. Please present the email in print or on a mobile device at conference check-in. Professionals requiring CEUs will need to check in at the Professional Registration table. Be sure to have your license number available. Exhibitors will need to check in at the Exhibitor Registration table.
We are continuously monitoring public health updates and will notify attendees if any COVID-19 related guidance comes out. We will abide by any local and federal ordinances in place at the time of the conference.
As part of the 34th Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference, you may be photographed or you may be recorded on audio and/or video. These items may be used in promotion of future conferences or in other marketing related to the conference. Your in-person attendance at this event implies your consent to be photographed or recorded.
Attendees who register for the virtual component of the conference will receive an email with instructions a few days before the event with helpful information and tips for successful viewing.
UCI MIND, AlzOC, and Alzheimer’s Association Orange County Chapter shall not be held liable for any disruption in internet telecommunications during the event that is beyond the parties’ control. Technical assistance will be provided.
