$53.4M Grant to Brown, Hebrew SeniorLife to Enable Massive Expansion of Alzheimer’s Research

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has awarded a five-year grant expected to total $53.4 million to Brown University and Boston-based Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL) to lead a nationwide effort to improve health care and quality of life for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as their caregivers.

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Together, the institutions will create a massive collaborative research incubator to develop trials aimed at evaluating interventions for Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer's-related dementia (AD/ADRD). The research incubator, called the NIA Imbedded Pragmatic AD/ADRD Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory, will take on two primary objectives through eight working groups comprising experts from 36 top research institutions. The first objective is to fund and provide expert assistance to up to 40 pilot trials that will test non-drug, care-based interventions for people living with dementia. The second objective is to develop best practices for implementing and evaluating interventions for Alzheimer’s and dementia care and share them with the research community at large.

“This grant will revolutionize the national infrastructure for research into how care is delivered to people living with dementia and their caregivers,” said Vincent Mor, co-leader of the collaboration and a professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown’s School of Public Health. “The key is figuring out how to take an idea that worked in an ideal situation and adapt it so it can be piloted in the messy real-world system of care providers that exists across the U.S.”

According to Dr. Susan Mitchell, the other co-leader of the collaboration, senior scientist at HSL’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, “The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory will transform the delivery, quality and outcomes of care provided to Americans with dementia and their caregivers by accelerating the testing and adoption of evidence-based interventions within health care systems.”

A video and a more detailed press release are available.

About Brown University
Founded in 1764, Brown University is an independent, coeducational Ivy League institution and the seventh-oldest college in the U.S. Brown is a leading research university where talented students and accomplished faculty collaborate to blend deep content knowledge to address the defining challenges of a complex and changing world. The Brown University School of Public Health’s Center for Long-Term Care Quality and Innovation was formed with a gift from the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living to rigorously test and disseminate promising interventions to improve care for older adults. For more information, visit brown.edu/go/innovation or follow the center on Twitter @LTC_Innovation.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, is a national senior services and academic leader that provides communities and health care for seniors, research into aging and education for geriatric care providers. Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research is committed to the conduct of high-quality research that discovers the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; leads to the prevention, treatment and cure of disease; advances the standard of care for older people; and informs public decision making. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit http://www.hebrewseniorlife.org, follow us on Twitter @H_SeniorLife, like us on Facebook or read our blog.

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