$100 Million gift will advance UCSF’s dementia research and care

(Press-News.org) UC San Francisco today announced a $100 million gift to its renowned Memory and Aging Center (MAC). It is the first gift to name a UCSF division, which will now be the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center.

“We applaud the Edward Fein Charitable Trust for their visionary support of the Fein MAC; this will accelerate the pace of research, education, and care for people with dementia,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “There is a growing recognition that neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s are affecting many more people, making our work in this area more urgent than ever. This gift will support patients, families, scientists, and health care workers to improve our understanding and treatment of these disorders.”

The gift comes without restrictions and will broadly support the Fein MAC’s activities.

“Particularly in times of funding challenges, these types of flexible gifts are extremely helpful, and we are incredibly grateful for our long relationship with Edward and Pearl,” said S. Andrew Josephson, MD, the chair of the Department of Neurology at UCSF. “This gift ensures that the Fein MAC’s work will continue for generations to come.”

A legacy of support for research and care

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Edward Fein was a stockbroker and financial analyst on Wall Street who retired in 1972. He was deeply committed to philanthropy and supporting medical research, and he appreciated the dedicated care he received from UCSF in his later years.  He and his wife Pearl desired to leave a lasting legacy that would advance dementia research and care.

As part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences and the Department of Neurology, Fein MAC scientists have played a foundational role in developing and validating new brain scans and blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease, paving the way for new treatments for the disease. Its scientists are leading large national trials to test new therapies for Alzheimer’s and find better ways to diagnose it.

They have also looked for immediate practical ways to improve the lives of patients and caregivers. A core tenet has been that, while dementia undoubtedly takes its toll, there are still ways to improve the quality of patients’ lives and to continue supporting them.

One of the most intriguing discoveries was made by the Fein MAC’s founding Director Bruce Miller, MD, that frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which destroys personality along with memory, can also sometimes unleash hidden artistic talents. This, in turn, has spurred research on how the two transformations could happen simultaneously. Recently, Miller and his colleagues at the Fein MAC found through brain imaging that as the area of the brain that controls language deteriorates, it activates a visual processing area that can give rise to sudden creative impulses.

“A basic strength of the Fein MAC is that we have expert clinicians working alongside discovery scientists; and we’ve been able to take clinical observations like those we made of our FTD patients and use them to inspire new research questions,” Miller said. “These have yielded remarkable insights about the brain’s ability to form new connections that may point the way toward new therapeutic strategies.”

Insights to spur a global effort

Fein MAC leaders are committed to sharing their knowledge and they offer extensive educational opportunities, from community outreach to advanced postdoctoral training. Fein MAC experts train physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, therapists, genetic counselors, and others who are interested in dementia. The Fein MAC also sponsors a visiting artist program and the Global Brain Health Institute, which includes historians, economists, and artists among the leaders it trains.

This commitment reflects an understanding that while dementia may be most apparent in the developed world, it is becoming more common everywhere and requires a concerted global response. By 2050, it is expected that 150 million people around the world will be living with dementia.

“Edward, Pearl and I had many conversations over the years about the importance of supporting our work in the face of this global challenge,” said Gil Rabinovici, MD, the Edward and Pearl Fein Distinguished Professor in the Fein MAC at UCSF. Rabinovici’s research, supported by the Fein family since 2015, evaluates how advanced brain scans can improve patient care and accelerate the development of new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. “I am honored and deeply grateful for the longstanding trust and dedicated support from the Fein family.”

 

About UCSF: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF School of Medicine also has a regional campus in Fresno. Learn more at https://ucsf.edu or see our Fact Sheet.

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