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There is a surprising, little-known fact about Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder that affects an estimated 5.8 million Americans—it disproportionately affects women. Two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. are women, according to a recent Alzheimer’s Association report. Scientists do not know why.
The Women's Alzheimer's Movement (WAM), a nonprofit founded by Maria Shriver, is at the forefront in taking action to help find solutions. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Emmy Award-winning chief medical correspondent, joined Shriver at the WAM Research Awards Summit held on February 11, 2021, to honor the recipients of $500,000 in grant funding for women-based Alzheimer’s disease research.
Emmy Award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and former first lady of California, Maria Shriver knows the devastation of Alzheimer’s. Her late father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2003. She founded WAM with the mission to support women-based Alzheimer’s research at leading scientific institutions around the country, in order to address the specific needs of women, including women of color, to help reduce their risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
“This year we are focused on the power of research to change the trajectory of women’s brain health forever,” Shriver said to “The Future Brain” at Psychology Today.
Gupta is a neurosurgeon and the author of the new book Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age that offers scientific insights on how to heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health. When he was a young teen, his beloved grandfather had onset of Alzheimer’s disease, which ignited his long-standing passion of understanding the brain, and educating others about the disease and what can be done about it.
“My work is deeply rooted in creating solutions for people to achieve optimal cognitive brain function,” explained Gupta to "The Future Brain” at Psychology Today. “However, it's important to note that historically medical research has overlooked women's brains and women's unique risks at developing cognitive diseases. WAM's research grants given to top scientists and doctors in brain health and Alzheimer’s prevention have the power to change this reality for women's brains.”
The grantees include scientists from throughout the United States at the cutting-edge of researching why Alzheimer’s disease affects women disproportionately.
Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., at the Women’s Brain Health Initiative at Weill Cornell in New York, will be using her grant to investigate what other reproductive factors (birth control, number of pregnancies, hormone therapy usage, age at menarche, age at menopause) play a role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s in women. This builds upon the foundation of her work on estrogen and menopause as Alzheimer’s risk factors.
Laura Cox, Ph.D., at the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, will be using her grant to understand how the gut microbiota controls Alzheimer’s by modulating epigenetics in men versus women in order to find ways to better treat AD in women.
Roberta Diaz Brinton, Ph.D., at the University of Arizona Center for Innovation in Brain Science, is using her grant to study Type 2 diabetes therapies and associated risks of Alzheimer’s in women.
Dean Ornish, M.D., at the Preventative Medicine Research Institute in San Francisco, was awarded a grant to continue his pioneering work on reversing coronary heart disease through lifestyle changes via a randomized controlled trial to see if the progression of early Alzheimer’s can be reversed with lifestyle medicine.
Richard Isaacson, M.D., at the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell in New York, will use the funding to determine awareness among ethnic women on their understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and risks in order to create an education guide aimed at women from diverse ethnic backgrounds in collaboration with Dr. Eseoasa Ighodaro from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Dr. Josefina Melenze-Cabrero in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dr. Amanda Smith at the University of Southern Florida Alzheimer’s Institute, and Dr. Juan Melendez in Jersey, England.
The grant funding also includes women scientists affiliated with the Alzheimer’s Association whose work was interrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Megan Zuelsdorff, Ph.D., is studying stressors and social environment as potential risk factors;
Ashley Sanderlin, Ph.D., is investigating the ketogenic diet and sleep; Fayron Epps, Ph.D., is investigating the role of faith and caregiving in the African American community; and Kendra Ray, Ph.D., is researching music therapy and caregiving.
“Medical research has historically left women out of clinical trials and major brain-health studies, with the devastating end result that there is a gap in knowledge about women’s health and why they are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other cognitive diseases,” said Shriver. "Funding these innovative women-based Alzheimer’s studies helps to close that gap. WAM believes firmly in the power of research, and that only by supporting science will we develop measures that may eventually lead to a vaccine, a treatment or a cure.”
Copyright © 2021 Cami Rosso. All rights reserved.
