Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Global Team to Share Major Strides in Health System Readiness and Expansion of Inclusive Research During AAIC 2024 in Philadelphia
DAC Is Bringing Innovative Diagnostic Tools to Diverse Patient Populations and Expanding Research to Five Continents
PHILADELPHIA – (July 17, 2024) – The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC), a pioneering worldwide initiative to cure Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain health, is set to present its work advancing global equity and health system innovation at the 2024 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Philadelphia.
“We are deeply invested in fostering equity at a global level in our quest to end Alzheimer’s,” said George Vradenburg, Founding Chairman of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. “We believe sharing our progress with the field on the implementation of digital and blood-based diagnostics to diverse patient populations and bringing research to places that have been systematically left behind, will add to the momentum of DAC’s worldwide efforts to end Alzheimer’s and related dementias.”
DAC’s global team is available for interviews and will present numerous posters and research sessions (see chart below) representing its work in over 100 sites around the world, including:
Catalyzing global health systems to prioritize early detection of cognitive impairment
Strengthening primary care to detect Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias early, and using agile implementation in healthcare systems
Scaling early detection programs – using innovative technology such as retinal scans, digital cognitive assessments, and blood biomarkers – from Japan to Germany to Brazil
Providing the tools for scaling community-based screening programs from Armenia to Canada to Kenya
The team also is available to discuss what’s next: the DAC Accurate Diagnosis program: an 8-site, 5-country program to translate research breakthroughs in blood biomarkers into routine clinical practice, a 10-health system fellowship program to implement the DAC Early Detection Blueprint, a community-of-practice model for sharing learnings across health systems and with the entire field, and a soon-to-launch US Brain Health Navigator program.
Launching inclusive research programs on five continents, including Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America, by early 2025, addressing the long-standing failure of Alzheimer's research to reflect the broad diversity of the populations with or at risk of the disease. Examples of current and soon-to-launch programs total 29 cohorts, representing 460,000 individuals, include:
Validation and localization of the first digital tools in East Africa with the Aga Khan University, marking a significant step towards improving access to early detection in underserved regions
The team will be available to discuss collaborative opportunities around large-scale digital cognitive assessment data (speech, ocular, olfactory) and bio-samples (blood, saliva) from its Global Cohorts Program active in India, Egypt, Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia, Caribbean countries and Chile.
This team also is available to brief on a collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to understand the impact of climate change on brain health in Kenya, Colombia, Egypt and Chile.
The AAIC convenes just weeks before DAC and its partner, the Aga Khan University Brain and Mind Institute, host the first Nature Conference focused on brain health and dementia held on the African continent. “The Future of Dementia in Africa: Advancing Global Partnerships” is a free, invitation-only forum hosted by DAC, Nature Conferences, and Aga Khan University, Sept. 11-12 in Nairobi, Kenya.
ABOUT THE DAVOS ALZHEIMER’S COLLABORATIVE
The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) is a pioneering worldwide initiative to cure Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, seeking to mirror the success of global efforts against infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Covid, and Malaria. DAC is extending global research beyond its current focus on traditional Western European ethnic populations into the highly diversified populations of the Global South, where the vast majority of those with Alzheimer’s live. By introducing lower-cost screening and diagnostic tools, as well as new treatment and prevention modalities in primary and community health settings, DAC is driving implementation of health system solutions that are appropriate for worldwide application. DAC also promotes the vital importance of brain health throughout the lifespan by addressing cardiometabolic and lifestyle factors, especially in early and mid-life. Absent effective action at scale around the world, by 2050, more than 150 million families and half a billion people will be personally impacted by Alzheimer’s, creating a social, financial, economic, and global security disaster of historic proportions. DAC was launched in Davos in 2021 by the World Economic Forum and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease. For more information, visit davosalzheimerscollaborative.org.
The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC) global team will present the following at AAIC 2024, July 28-Aug. 1 in Philadelphia. Please contact Susan Oliver for access to presenters and more information.
Poster Information:
Featured Research Session Information
Title: Real World Implementation of Blood Biomarkers in Primary Care
Date & Time: July 29, 2024 | 2:40 – 2:50pm EDT
Presenter: Deanna Willis, Indiana University School of Medicine
Title: “They are perceived to be witches, and some are killed”: Community perceptions of elderly people living with dementia in Kilifi, A coastal County in Kenya
Date & Time: July 30, 2024 | 9:30 – 9:40am EDT
Presenter: Andrew Okoth Aballa, Brain and Mind Institute, Aga Khan University
Title: Global Effort to Improve Healthcare System Readiness for Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment: A Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Initiative
Date & Time: August 1, 2024 | 10:00 – 11:30am EDT
Chairs: Tim MacLeod, Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative & Lori Frank, Women's Health Access Matters (WHAM)
Presenters:
