2023 Alzheimer's Disease Registry Conference and Mentoring Workshop
Conference registration and workshop applications are now open for the 2023 National Conference on High-Impact Alzheimer's Disease Registry Research and the High-Impact Alzheimer's Disease Registry Research Workshop for Scholars of Color!
The National Conference on High-Impact Alzheimer's Disease Registry Research will be on Friday, March 31, 2023. This conference is 100% virtual and is open to anyone who is interested in learning,
collaborating, or networking in the area of Alzheimer’s Disease Registries. The conference is designed to advance the science on Alzheimer’s disease and related
dementias (ADRD) disparities by increasing the pipeline of underrepresented minority/minoritized
(URM*) scholars in conducting population-based research with statewide registries.
Conference presentations will offer an overview of the existing statewide Alzheimer’s
Disease registries in the United States, their potential impact on aging policies
and initiatives, and how to engage stakeholders in registry research.
The High-Impact Alzheimer's Disease Registry Research Workshop for Scholars of Color is designed for underrepresented/minoritized (URM*) scholars who are interested in
developing a research project using Alzheimer’s disease Registry data with the support
of a mentor. This in-person workshop will be held on Friday, July 14, 2023 on the
campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. The purpose of the workshop
is to introduce scholars to the data that are available in the registries, brainstorm
project ideas, network with other scholars, and identify senior mentors. The primary
goal of this opportunity is to provide a mechanism for senior faculty/experts to mentor
junior URM scholars in Alzheimer’s Disease registry research through submission of
a 1) conference abstract to the 2024 National Conference on High-Impact Alzheimer’s
Disease Registry Research and 2) manuscript to an academic journal within the next
12 months. No prior experience conducting research using secondary data is required.
As a scholar invited to attend the workshop you will be reimbursed for travel, room
and board, per diem, and childcare costs. The workshop will be held on the campus
of the University of South Carolina. To be considered for this opportunity, there
is a brief application** to complete by June 1, 2023.
For more information on this worskhop, including eligibility criteria, travel, lodging
and reimbursement, please review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section below.
*URM is defined as persons from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown to be
underrepresented in biomedical research. This includes Blacks, African Americans,
Hispanics, Latinos, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other
Pacific Islanders.
**Responses to the workshop application questions may be prepared in advance. The
application cannot be saved and resumed later.
Funding for this conference was made possible, in part by 1R13 AG074603-01 from National
Institute on Aging. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications
and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of
the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention by trade names, commercial
practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Julie M. Zissimopoulos, PhD, is a Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of
Southern California. In addition to her faculty appointment, she is Senior Fellow
and Director of Aging and Cognition Research Program and Research Training at the
Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. She is a Principal Investigator
of USC’s Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (USC AD RCMAR), and Center for
Advancing Sociodemographic and Economic Study of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
(CeASES-ADRD), both focused on reducing burden of Alzheimer’s disease and funded by
the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Zissimopoulos’ current research focuses on medication
adherence, insurance design, medical expenditures, with a special emphasis on economic
costs of dementia, the use of and response to drug therapies for non-dementia conditions
that influence risk of dementia; racial and ethnic disparities in diagnosis and health
care treatment for dementia; and improved methods for population measures of dementia.
Published research appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology, Journal of Gerontology Social
Science, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Journal of Health Economics
and Alzheimer’s and Dementia.Dr. Zissimopoulos received her B.A. summa cum laude from Boston College, her M.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in economics from
the University of California, Los Angeles.
Greta Brown
Greta Brown, BA, is a native of South Carolina and a graduate of the University of South Carolina,
where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a focus in writing and
communication. Ms. Brown began her career as an editorial assistant with the international
publication SCIENCE in Washington, DC. She would later take her communication skills
to Atlanta where she spent nearly 10 years in development within the broadcasting
industry.
Ms. Brown joined the Alzheimer’s Association in February (2020) as the Manager of
Programs and Education with oversight of all care and support initiatives throughout
the 21 counties that comprise West Tennessee. Greta was appointed to the national
Research Champion division of the Association in 2021 and served as one of two research
representatives for the region comprising TN, AL, LA, and MS.
In August of this year, Ms. Brown was promoted to a national role with the Alzheimer’s
Association and began serving as the Senior Associate Director of Community Engagement.
She is charged with oversight and support of community education and support outreach
across 17 states.
Greta is a member of The International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research & Treatment
(ISTAART), The American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Professional
Network on Aging of the Midsouth, and The American Communication Association.
Susan Aguinaga
Susan Aguinaga, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is committed to advancing scientific
knowledge that addresses health disparities in cognition and dementia-related diseases
through community-based physical activity and dietary interventions. Through her research,
she creates culturally appropriate physical activity and dietary interventions for
racially and ethnically diverse older adults with cognitive impairment and those at
risk for cognitive decline.
Ney Alliey-Rodriguez
Ney Alliey-Rodriguez, MD, is a clinical and translational investigator of neuropsychiatric disorders, with
a special focus on genetic factors affecting neurodegeneration and aging. He earned
his medical degree and completed his residency in psychiatry at Universidad del Zulia
(Venezuela), and did postdoctoral work in Psychiatric Genetics at The University of
Chicago. Dr. Alliey-Rodriguez joined the South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research
Center at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in 2021, to study factors associated
with the increased risk of dementia in Latinos.
Rana Bayakly
Rana Bayakly, MPH, is the Chief Epidemiologist at the Georgia Department of Public Health, Chronic
Disease, Health Behaviors and Injury Epidemiology Section. She is also the Principal
Investigator for the Georgia Violent Death Reporting System and is the Director of
the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry. Ms. Bayakly manages the Georgia Alzheimer
Disease and Other Related Dementia (ADRD) registry.
Candace Brown
Candace Brown, PhD, is an assistant professor of gerontology in the Department of Public Health Sciences
at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC). She holds affiliate appointments
in the Gerontology Program and Department of Sociology at UNCC and is a collaborative
researcher with the Motivated Cognition and Aging Brain Lab at Duke University. Her
research passion is to examine motivation to exercise across the lifespan. She is
currently working with Amissa, Inc., in the development of a smartphone app designed
to assist caregivers in monitoring persons with dementia.
Jose E. Cabrero Castro
Jose E. Cabrero Castro, PhD, MSc, MD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch in
the Department of Nutrition, Metabolism, & Rehabilitation Sciences and the Sealy Center
on Aging. Dr. Cabrero has a PhD in Health Care Management and Policy from the National
Autonomous University of Mexico. He has served as Head of the Health Economics Division,
Deputy Director of Patient Safety, and Deputy Director of Childhood Cancer at the
Ministry of Health of Mexico. Currently, Dr. Cabrero is conducting projects related
to ADRDs and health services utilization.
Ethyln McQueen-Gibson
Ethyln McQueen-Gibson, DNP, MSN, RN-BC, is an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Director for
the Center for Gerontology and Minority Aging at Hampton University. She has practiced
nursing for over 40 years and has served as a commissioned officer in the US Army
Nurse Corps. Dr. Gibson currently serves on the Virginia Governor’s COVID-19 Task
Force for Long Term Care, is President-Elect for the Southern Gerontological Society,
and is a Board Member for the Peninsula Agency on Aging in Hampton, VA.
Maggi Miller
Maggi Miller, MS, PhD, is a research assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and
Biostatistics and the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Registry Manager. She is
also co-director of the USC Office for the Study of Aging which houses the oldest
and most comprehensive Alzheimer’s Disease Registry in the U.S. Her research interests
include Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and caregivers of individuals with
dementia.
Bernard Schreurs
Bernard Schreurs, PhD, is a professor in the School of Medicine in the Department of Neuroscience and
Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University. He is the director
of the West Virginia Alzheimer’s Disease Registry at West Virginia’s School of Medicine
in the Physiology and Pharmacology department. Dr. Schreurs’ research focuses on learning
and memory, synaptic plasticity, and preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Julius Fridriksson
Julius Fridriksson, PhD, the Vice President for Research, has for years been a prominent member of the
UofSC research community. He has served as a faculty member in the Department of
Communication Sciences and Disorders at the Arnold School of Public Health since 2001,
and as SmartState Endowed Chair of Memory and Brain Function, directing the SMARTBrain™
Center, since 2016. He also co-directs the cutting-edge UofSC McCausland Center for
Brain Imaging.
Dr. Fridriksson built his research portfolio from the ground up over many years, studying
post-stroke neuroscience and learning how to manage a growing, thriving team of researchers
through doing just that. These efforts have culminated in the development of the interdisciplinary
Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery, or C-STAR, funded through the National Institutes
of Health. Collaboration is at the heart of C-STAR’s mission. The center encompasses
four projects, including two here at UofSC, one at Johns Hopkins University and one
at the University of California, Irvine. Each project examines a different aspect
of aphasia, a communication disorder characterized by difficulty understanding and/or
generating speech that results from damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, often
caused by a stroke.
Workshop Frequently Asked Questions
Eligible applicants must:
Be a member of a racial/ethnic group that has been underrepresented in biomedical
research
Have a terminal degree
Have received their terminal degree within the past 10 years
Scholars who are selected to attend the workshop will be reimbursed for three-night
travel related costs to include airfare, hotel, incidentals, and child/family care.
The conference coordinator will contact scholars with additional details regarding
the Travel Authorization (TA) form before you are permitted to finalize your arrangements.
To best prepare for the workshop, scholars should review the 2022 Promoting High-Impact
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference session recordings entitled “Introduction
to Statewide Alzheimer’s Registries” and “Research Guided by Statewide Alzheimer's
Disease Registries”. All conference session recordings are available on the CCADMR
in the “Conference Session Recordings” section below.
Each scholar will be assigned two mentors.
The workshop will be held on the campus of the University of South Carolina (USC),
located in Columbia, SC.
To facilitate lodging arrangements, a room block will be reserved at the Courtyard
by Marriott Columbia Downtown at USC. Reimbursements for lodging will be made for
up to $350/night.
Scholars will be asked to make their own travel arrangements and keep all receipts
to be submitted to the Program Coordinator for processing of reimbursements. The TA
form will need to be approved before finalizing travel arrangements.
Final decisions about selected scholars will be made by June 15th.
No, this is an in-person only event.
Applicants are not required to have a project idea before applying for or attending
the workshop.
A limited number of scholars will be selected in order to ensure an interactive and
engaging workshop experience.
Conference Session Recordings
If you missed our conference or want to revisit a particular conference presentation,
please see below for all of the recorded sessions that were part of the National
Conference on High-Impact Alzheimer's Disease Registry Research.
Speakers: Jo Pauling-Jones, MEd (AARP South Carolina); Lisa McGuire, PhD (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention); Taylor Wilson, BA (South Carolina Alzheimer's
Association)
Speakers: Megan Byers, LMSW (University of South Carolina); Cheryl Dye, PhD (Clemson
University); Caitlin Torrence, MA, MS (Clemson University); Elizabeth Head, MPH (Georgia
Department of Public Health)
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