The Pivotal Role of Universities in Advancing Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care
Michael K. Young
President, The University of Utah
July 2, 2009

Today, more than 5 million people suffer directly from Alzheimer’s disease at an annual cost of $150 billion. That number barely scratches the surface of the effect this disease has on friends and relatives, and it is increasing at a significant rate. Alzheimer’s disease is a growing challenge with complex and varied effects on society. Fighting Alzheimer’s effectively demands an extraordinary breadth of expertise and collaboration made possible only at top research universities like the University of Utah.

The University of Utah is confronting this challenge head on in a cross-disciplinary way to improve the health and happiness of those battling the disease and to expand the resources available to care providers and society at large. By overtly encouraging translational research through collaborative synergy grants and interdisciplinary partnerships, the university ensures that faculty produce results that reach beyond the laboratory walls to the patient’s hospital bed. That research and its subsequent transfer to patients and care providers will make all the difference between success and failure in addressing Alzheimer’s.

The University of Utah is at the forefront of Alzheimer’s care and research by combating every devastating facet of the disease. The University of Utah School of Medicine, the only comprehensive research and treatment complex in the Intermountain West, serves as the referral center for an area encompassing more than 10 percent of the geographic United States. In 2005, with generous benefactor funding, the University of Utah established the Center for Alzheimer’s Care, Imaging and Research (CACIR), which promotes initiatives to encourage interdisciplinary dementia research, education and training, and community involvement, including a partnership with the Utah Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and a full-time outreach coordinator who manages a busy schedule of lectures and health fairs.

With the help of scientific discoveries made at universities like Utah, we now have a much greater understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia. It is not a mental illness or simply a part of aging; rather, it is a progressive brain disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of proteins in the brain. Ultimately, the tragic effects include loss of nerve synapses, memory loss, progressive deterioration in thinking ability, altered behavior, debility, and death. As the baby boomers age and incidences of Alzheimer’s increase, there will be an equally broad increase in the demands on our community. The University of Utah recognizes and addresses this need for enhanced research for a cure, as well as analysis of the personal and societal toll of this disease. The situation is particularly poignant in the Intermountain West, which is projected to have the highest percent increase in the number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease over the next decade.

In recognizing that Alzheimer’s does not fit succinctly into just one traditional health care system, CACIR is a collaborative, multidisciplinary unit within the Department of Neurology in the Medical School, with administrative links to other university units and the community at large. CACIR capitalizes especially on established institutional strengths at the university in brain imaging, neuroscience, and genetics. Each faculty member is also an investigator at The Brain Institute at the University of Utah. Additionally, the university has expanded its Center on Aging into a campus-wide initiative that provides pilot funds for interdisciplinary research and coordinates educational activities and communication among researchers. CACIR faculty are members of this center as well, where they develop collaborations and participate in appropriate lectures and courses throughout campus, keeping Alzheimer’s disease an active topic on the minds of investigators and students alike.

CACIR’s unique Proactive Dementia Care model uses the patient-centered medical home concept to coordinate care with primary care physicians. This initiative emphasizes early, specific diagnosis and intervention, prevention of complications and crises, and empowerment of patients and families in disease self-management. Proactive Care includes meeting with a dementia-specialist social worker to prepare social networks for comprehensive care, rather than simply reactive responses to problems that predictably develop. The University of Utah manages a toll-free number that families can use to participate in this social work intervention.

With the ongoing cross-disciplinary work occurring at the University of Utah, there is hope for patients and their families that one day, we will find the cure for this devastating disease. Translation of research into practice may be costly, but it is absolutely essential for our core mission. As the University of Utah looks forward to the 22nd century, it marks Alzheimer’s care and research as an exciting and critical part of its mission.