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Seetha Chandrasekhara, MD (Photo by Joyce Lee)

By Joyce Lee

If you walked into the Penn Memory Center clinic on a Monday afternoon this past year, you probably saw Seetha Chandrasekhara, MD, helping both patients with memory problems and their loved ones.

A Geriatric Psychiatry Fellow with the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Chandrasekhara joined PMC in the summer of 2017 after completing her psychiatry residency at Temple University. Her time at PMC was a core yearlong rotation as part of the program, “because geriatric psychiatry involves a lot of dementia and management of the behaviorial symptoms of dementia,” she said.

By Joyce Lee

Join Penn Memory Center in saying farewell and good luck to research coordinator Benjamin Bear, MSW.

Mr. Bear joined the Penn Memory Center (PMC) in 2017, after graduating with his Master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. At PMC, he primarily conducted qualitative data collection and analysis for the SOKRATES II study, working with Kristin Harkins, MPH, to understand why individuals decide to share or not share with others knowledge of their APOE genotype, a gene used to predict risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

“Benjamin’s social work training made him a skilled interviewer. He connected with research participants and treated them with empathy and compassion,” said Ms. Harkins. “His kindness and unique clinical perspective were great assets to our work together. He will be missed.”

Join us in saying farewell and best of luck to Kayci Vickers, MS, who has been a neuropsychology practicum student at the Penn Memory Center (PMC) for the past two years. She came to PMC as a doctoral student at Drexel University in Clinical Psychology, specializing in neuropsychology.

Ms. Vickers has had a role in all aspects of neuropsychological services at PMC, including conducting comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations, testing PMC patients and Aging Brain Cohort (ABC) study participants, and acting as co-facilitator of the Cognitive Fitness Psychotherapy and Skills groups. She also recently published a normative paper on olfactory testing (Sniffin’ Sticks) in older adults in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology.

Ms. Vickers will be moving on to an internship training program at Emory University next month.

“She has been a pleasure to work with, is a team player and has a bright future. She will be missed!” said her supervisor and PMC director of neuropsychological services Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD.

Penn Memory Center Scholar Emily Largent, PhD, JD, RN has been selected to participate in the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Butler-Williams Scholars Program, to be held from July 30 to August 3 on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD.

The program provides qualified individuals an opportunity to further their knowledge through lectures, seminars, and small-group discussions in research design relative to aging, including issues relevant to aging of racial and ethnic minorities.

Dr. Largent is an assistant professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine and a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

The Butler-Williams Scholars Program is sponsored by the NIA with support from the National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence.

Join Penn Memory Center neurologist Sanjeev Vaishnavi, MD, PhD on Thursday, June 14 for a special presentation hosted by Atria Center City, a senior living and memory care center.

“Dementia: Getting a Proper Diagnosis,” will be in the William Penn Room of Atria Center City, 150 N. 20th Street, starting at 4 p.m. Registration begins at 3:30 p.m.

Dr. Vaishnavi is director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Fellowship Program at Penn Memory Center and Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine.

To RSVP, contact Ms. Jacqueline Pireaux of Atria Center City at Jacqueline.Pireaux@AtriaSeniorLiving.com.

Atria is dedicated to recognizing the challenges of aging, encouraging a fulfilling lifestyle and promoting independence.

Penn Memory Center scholar Shana Stites, PsyD, MA, MS recently joined the Alzheimer’s Association on WPHL-TV 17’s “In Focus” to discuss Alzheimer’s disease and the state of research at PMC.

(The segment on Alzheimer’s disease begins at 18:56.)

Dr. Stites and Fredericka Waugh, associate director, diversity and inclusion of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Delaware Valley chapter, were joined by Tom Brophy, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 61.

Is the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia declining? Kenneth Langa, MD, PhD addressed this question using epidemiological evidence from around the world during a recent keynote presentation at a conference held by the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging (IOA).

Dr. Langa, Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at University of Michigan, spoke about recent trends in brain health and dementia prevalence within the United States and around the world.

During the presentation, Dr. Langa referenced data collected from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) between the years 2000 and 2012. Despite the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity increasing, findings showed a significant decrease in dementia in ages 65 and older, with the most drastic being in ages 85 and older.

Dr. Langa partly attributes this trend to the rapid increase in levels of education, which is protective against Alzheimer’s disease. In 1990, 53 percent of people over 65 finished high school, while by 2010, that number increased to 80 percent. Similarly, in 1990 only 11 percent of people age 65 and older finished college, with that number growing to 23 percent by 2010, Dr. Langa said.

This event held by the IOA was the 2018 Sylvan M. Cohen Annual Retreat and Poster Session in partnership with Penn’s Population Aging Research Center (PARC). Dr. Langa’s presentation followed the theme of this year’s event, “Impact of Life Course Exposures on Aging: Longevity reflects our experiences from day to day.” To learn more about Dr. Langa’s research or see full lectures from the conference, click here.

By Joyce Lee

A new way of defining Alzheimer’s disease looks to frame it around the presence of “biomarkers,” or biological markers. Based on new guidelines from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, these biomarkers include amyloid protein buildup, tau protein buildup, and neurodegeneration in the brain.

“The new definition is an attempt to better explain why you might have cognitive problems, number one,” Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish told Healthline. “And number two, to give physicians the opportunity to prescribe treatments that might slow down or even prevent you from developing those cognitive problems.”