Learning Objectives:
- List 6 or more modifiable risk factors for dementia
- Recognize strategies needed to reduce the risk of developing dementia, examining environmental influences and lifestyle factors
- Learn about evidence-based approaches to improve overall brain health
- Identify special considerations for high-risk populations
Expert Presenters
Dr. Rudolph Tanzi is the Co-Founder and Director of the McCance Center for Brain Health, Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, and Co-Director of the Mass General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Tanzi co-discovered the first Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genes including the amyloid gene (APP) and the presenilin genes. He also discovered the first AD neuroinflammation gene, CD33 and the Wilson’s disease gene. Dr. Tanzi’s laboratory used human stem cells to create the first mini-human brain organoid models of AD, which have made drug discovery exponentially faster and cheaper. He has used these models to develop novel AD drugs, including gamma secretase modulators that lower amyloid production and are being prepared for clinical trials. He has published over 675 papers (>155,000 citations), received numerous awards, including the Metropolitan Life Award, Potamkin Prize, and Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and has been included on the list of the TIME100 Most Influential People in the World. Dr. Tanzi is also a New York Times bestselling author of Decoding Darkness, Super Brain, Super Genes, and The Healing Self, for which he has hosted several television shows on PBS.
Dr. Johnathan Rosand is a vascular and critical care neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Neurology at Harvard and Associate Member of the Broad Institute. An internationally renowned scientist, clinician, educator, mentor and visionary leader, Dr Rosand has created a legacy of multidisciplinary teams that are successfully tackling some of the most pressing challenges in brain disease. His research program in cerebrovascular health, launched over 20 years ago, has been a world leader in high-throughput genetic, imaging and epidemiological studies of stroke. In 2007 Dr Rosand launched the International Stroke Genetics Consortium to bring together the world’s pre-eminent stroke investigators and created the Cerebrovascular Disease Knowledge Portal to share data widely. After founding Mass General’s Division of Neurocritical Care and building it into one of the nation’s top programs, Dr Rosand stepped down to establish the McCance Center for Brain Health with Rudy Tanzi and Greg Fricchione. He is now leveraging his extensive global collaborations, his network of former trainees, the rigorous science performed by his team at MGB, along with the lessons he has learned from a life devoted to caring for patients, to launch the Global Brain Care Coalition, an international network of outstanding academic health centers and their partners who have committed to a joint goal of reducing new cases of dementia, stroke and depression by 10% in ten years and 30% by 2050.
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