RCMAR Center Director calls on House to advance a global brain health agenda

(Press-News.org) Speaking today at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Gladys E. Maestre, MD, PhD, from the Rio Grande Valley Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research testified to lawmakers about the importance of advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in populations worldwide.

Representatives convened the hearing, titled “Meeting the Challenges of Global Brain Health: Diagnosis and Treatment for the 21st Century,” as the House Foreign Affairs Committee works on a new bill that will focus on Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and hydrocephalus.

The Rio Grande Valley Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research that Maestre directs is part of the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The RCMAR National Coordinating Center is led by the Gerontological Society of America under a cooperative agreement with NIA.

“To harness the great promise of science to mitigate the suffering of millions experiencing or at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease across the globe, we need to consider rigorously not only advances in scientific knowledge but also to design the infrastructure and resources required to make this promise a reality,” said Maestre, who is also a professor at the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine and co-director of the South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

In the United States alone, by 2050, an estimated 13 million Americans will be living with Alzheimer’s disease, and total payments for all individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias are projected to increase to more than $1.1 trillion.

In her testimony, Maestre urged representatives to adopt a unified approach to advancing Alzheimer's research while strengthening the U.S. position in Africa and other low- and middle-income countries — by leveraging successful programs like RCMAR and Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers funded by the National Institute on Aging. She said these initiatives combine rigorous research with meaningful community engagement.

Maestre added that the Diversity Centers for Genome Research, supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH, also play a crucial role in engaging diverse populations and should be utilized to enhance these efforts. Partnerships with organizations such as the Alzheimer's Association, the Global Brain Health Institute, and the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health should be strengthened to maximize global impact.

Finally, she said integrating global brain health leadership into our foreign affairs workforce and developing a pipeline for the next generation of cross-sector experts is essential. With over 250 North American universities offering global health education, these institutions are well-positioned to include global brain health in their curricula. The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Higher Education Solutions Network also provides an effective model for leveraging existing expertise in this area.

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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure includes a nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and GSA is also home to the National Center to Reframe Aging and the National Coordinating Center for the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research.

The RCMAR National Coordinating Center is supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24AG083253. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the National Institute on Aging.

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