Risk and Resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT A national conference on Risk and Resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans will take place at Rutgers University–Newark, in Newark, New Jersey, on June 23- 24, 2022. Although African Americans are at elevated risk for age-related cognitive decline and memory loss—with double the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compared to white Americans—we do not sufficiently understand the causes of this health disparity, nor how to best focus future interventional efforts to remediate this health crisis. This day-and-a-half conference will present the latest data on biological, behavioral, social, and environmental influences on individual differences in aging, brain health, and AD in older African Americans, bridging correlational, longitudinal, and interventional methodologies. The three related specific aims of the conference are to: (1) Promote cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication among researchers who study risk and resilience to AD in African Americans; (2) Support trainees and early career investigators in this field; and (3) Promote wider scientific, clinical, and public awareness of the factors which affect risk and resilience to AD in African Americans. Finally, this meeting will be innovative in four ways: (1) It will focus on interdisciplinary approaches to risk and resilience to AD in African Americans; (2) We integrate African American community leaders and research participants in the programming; (3) A planned guest-edited volume of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease with contributions from the speakers will ensure wide dissemination and impact; (4) As Rutgers-Newark is an urban public university rated #1 in Ethnic Diversity by US News & World Report, a federally-qualified Minority-Serving Institution, and a NIH G-RISE minority graduate student training center, this meeting will enhance training and career development for undergraduate and graduate students from under-represented minority groups.