In the News

Nature.com (February 28, 2018): How Flashing Lights and Pink Noise Might Banish Alzheimer’s, Improve Memory and More - February 28, 2018

For years now the gold standard for R&D in Alzheimer’s disease has focused on generating convincing evidence that any new therapy being studied could slow the cognitive decline of patients and help preserve their ability to perform the kind of daily functions that can keep a patient independent for a longer period of time. That’s a ...

AlzForum (February 14, 2018): In Familial Alzheimer’s, Tau Creeps into Cortex as Symptoms Show - February 20, 2018

JoAnn Wooding is staring intently at the clear liquid dripping from a dark brown IV bag into her husband Peter’s arm. “Please be the drug, please be the drug,” she says. Married for more than 50 years, the Woodings are among the more than 5 million Americans who are facing Alzheimer’s disease, one of the ...

Science Magazine (February 15, 2018): FDA Floats New Rules for Testing Alzheimer’s Drugs - February 16, 2018

Is it nature or nurture that ultimately shapes a human? Are actions and behaviors a result of genes or environment? Variations of these questions have been explored by countless philosophers and scientists across millennia. Yet, as biologists continue to better understand the mechanisms that underlie brain function, it is increasingly apparent that this long-debated dichotomy may be ...

Time (February 26, 2018): Inside One Couple’s Experimental Treatment to Battle Alzheimer’s Disease - February 15, 2018

Steve Johanson had a fierce and knowledgeable advocate at his side when he visited a hospital recently: his wife, Judy. In the six years since Steve had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, she had immersed herself in understanding the illness and preparing for its consequences. But even so, the hospital stay to adjust Steve’s Alzheimer’s ...

Harvard Medical School (February 8, 2018): Nature, Meet Nurture - February 9, 2018

The National Institute of Health has announced that Harvard co-Principal Investigators Dr. Mercè Crosas and Dr. Timothy Clark are NIH Data Commons Pilot Phase Awardees. The awards are part of the National Institutes of Health’s new Data Commons program, which will be implemented in a 4-year pilot phase to explore the feasibility and best practices for ...

Boston Globe (January 2, 2018): Dementia Patients Often Need Hospitals, Which are Often Ill-Prepared - January 12, 2018

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR. ANN MCKEE — OUR FORMER NEUROPATHOLOGY FELLOW! AT A SHOE DEALER CONVENTION in Boston in 1920, Dr. Jacob Lowe showed off an invention he called the Foot-O-Scope. His fluoroscope used an X-ray tube to produce a fluorescent image of the bones in a foot as well as the shoe around it, ensuring a ...

MGH NeuroBlast (December 4, 2017): Massachusetts General Hospital’s NPH Program Offers Comprehensive Evaluation & Treatment of Brain Disorder - December 8, 2017

Holidays can be meaningful, enriching times for both the person with Alzheimer’s disease and his or her family. Maintaining or adapting family rituals and traditions helps all family members feel a sense of belonging and family identity. For a person with Alzheimer’s, this link with a familiar past is reassuring. However, when celebrations, special events, or ...

MGH Research (October 30, 2017): How a 3D Model of Alzheimer’s Disease is Providing New Hope in the Search for Treatments - November 8, 2017

President Ronald Reagan declared the first National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in 1983. Eleven years later, President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which eventually claimed his life. While President Reagan’s experience raised our collective awareness about this cruel disease, Americans today are, sadly, no less vulnerable to its ravages. The slow, steady decline of ...

U.S. Postal Service (November 2, 2017): U.S. Postal Service Previews Alzheimer’s Semipostal Fundraising Stamp Image - November 2, 2017

A few years ago, Julie began to worry about her memory. Names didn’t come as quickly. She had to work out on paper calculations she once figured out in her head, and her reading glasses seemed to have grown legs and started wandering about the house. At her annual physical, Doctor Thomas reassured her, saying ...

The White House (November 1, 2017): Statement from President Donald J. Trump on National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, 2017 - November 1, 2017

Massachusetts is facing an epidemic of people slipping into the shadows of dementia, and lawmakers want to make sure the state is prepared. The number of people in Massachusetts who have Alzheimer’s and other dementias will increase by 25 percent in just eight years, rising from 120,000 in 2017 to 150,000 in 2025, according to the ...

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