Alzheimer’s Disease Center Opens at UAMS

NOV. 1, 2001 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has established an Alzheimer’s Disease Center to focus research and education on the debilitating form of dementia.

The Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine received a $4.9 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for the center. The UAMS Alzheimer’s Disease Center will be one of only 29 Alzheimer’s disease centers in the United States.

Cornelia Beck, Ph.D., R.N., a professor of geriatrics, psychiatry, and nursing, will direct the center. Dr. Beck is the first nurse specialist to receive this type of NIA funding; generally the funding is to medical doctors.

The UAMS Alzheimer’s Disease Center leadership also includes W. Sue T. Griffin, Ph.D., co-director and associate leader of the center’s Neuropathology Core; Victor W. Henderson, M.D., M.S., co-director and leader of the center’s Clinical Core; Robert E. Mrak, M.D., Ph.D., leader of the Neuropathology Core; and Elaine Souder, Ph.D., R.N., leader of the Education/Information Transfer Core.

“I am particularly pleased that our Department of Geriatrics, which is one of only three departments of geriatrics in the nation, has been selected for this grant,” Dr. Beck said at a ceremony Tuesday in celebration of the new center.

“In concert with the Reynolds Center on Aging, the department has established a reputation of providing excellent patient care and conducting solid basic, clinical and health-services research. The Alzheimer’s Disease Center will become a shared resource to facilitate and enhance Alzheimer’s disease research at UAMS and, through collaborations, nationally and internationally.

UAMS recently celebrated the establishment of the Alzheimer's Disease Center. From left: Cornelia Beck, Ph.D., R.N., Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., and Sue T. Griffin, Ph.D. Drs. Beck and Griffin are researchers on Alzheimer's disease.

From left: Robert E. Mrak, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Griffin, Dr. Beck, Victor W. Henderson, M.D., and Elaine Souder, Ph.D., R.N.

From left: Sissy Clinton, Sissy Brandon, and Judy Grundfest attended the celebration.

E-mail This Article

“Funding from this grant will have far-reaching benefits,” she explained. “It will help older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers by supporting the development of better diagnostic and intervention strategies and helping them to connect with practicing health-care professionals.

“The general public, especially those who live in rural areas and African-Americans, will be provided information about dementia and about the importance of approving an autopsy at the time of death.”

Each year the Senior Health Center at UAMS’s Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging serves approximately 3,600 older adults. Almost one fourth have dementia; 26 percent live in rural areas; and 13 percent are African-American.

Dr. Beck added that UAMS students will learn about Alzheimer’s disease through the Area Health Education Centers and other health education programs.

The clinical team of neurologists, geriatricians and health care professionals from neuro-psychology, social work and nursing will evaluate a pool of up to 400 people, composed of those with Alzheimer’s disease, healthy normal older people, and people with certain other kinds of memory loss that is not caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The team will evaluate patients twice a year according to a set of measurable outcomes.

Compared to the rest of the country, Arkansas residents are older, more impoverished, and have lower educational levels and poorer health. “Because Arkansans tend to ‘age in place,’ we can follow Alzheimer’s disease patients and their caregivers over an extended period of time,” Dr. Beck said. “Deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease were more prevalent in Arkansas than nationally, and deaths in Arkansas due to cerebro-vascular disease were the second highest in the United States. I believe this center will provide a natural laboratory for studying how to provide Alzheimer’s disease services cost-effectively in medically underserved areas.”

Links on This Page

Alzheimer’s Disease Center: http://alzheimer.uams.edu/
Center on Aging: http://centeronaging.uams.edu/
National Institute on Aging: http://www.nia.nih.gov/

© 2001 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. “UAMS,” “UAMS Medical Center,” “UAMS Online,” “UAMS Today,” “uams.edu,” and “Here’s to Your Health” are marks of UAMS.

08/28/03