NIH funds Boston University center for Alzheimer's prevention studies

Maria Glymour, Andrew Stokes, and Deborah Carr will lead the Boston University-Quantitative Population Science and Healthy Cognitive Aging Research Program (BU-SHARP) to foster national research collaboration on preventing and ameliorating the consequences of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in disproportionately affected populations.

Mounting data suggest that modifying health and lifestyle factors may delay or prevent a substantial portion of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) diagnoses, as new ADRD cases are expected to double in the United States by 2060. However, research on the most effective strategies for ADRD prevention is often impeded by methodological challenges, insufficient data, and research teams that lack the interdisciplinary expertise to study specific groups and contexts.

This fall, three faculty members at Boston University's School of Public Health (SPH) and College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) will launch a Center on the Demography and Economics of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias to help fill this knowledge gap.

Dr. Maria Glymour, chair and professor of epidemiology at SPH, Dr. Andrew Stokes, associate professor of global health at SPH, and Dr. Deborah Carr, A&S Distinguished Professor of Sociology at CAS, have received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to establish the center, called the Boston University-Quantitative Population Science and Healthy Cognitive Aging Research Program (BU-SHARP). It will become the 18th center of its kind nationwide, joining a network of NIA-supported academic hubs that facilitate ADRD and cognitive aging research and related initiatives by connecting scholars in a variety of fields, including demography, sociology, economics, epidemiology, data science, and more.