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By Joyce Lee

Banking and medicine are two industries that have “little in common,” but their collaboration could advance the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Penn Memory Center Co-Director Jason Karlawish wrote in a recent column.

The column, published in STAT News, highlighted the importance of the partnership between those who manage health and those who manage wealth in an initiative called “whealthcare.”

Advances in public health has made it possible for the average 65-year-old American to live for 19 more years. But with longer lifespans comes financial, as well as cognitive, challenges. Not only do older adults have to worry about ensuring the security of their financial future post-retirement, they also have to deal with age-related declines in memory and thinking skills.

And with the possibility of cognitive impairments caused by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, older adults might have to face the risk of needing long-term care and of being vulnerable to financial fraud, exploitation, and mismanagement.

A collaboration between the banking and the medical industries could change these prospects for older Americans.

“Our day-to-day use of our money provides signals of brain function that can be far more real-world and meaningful than the results of online cognitive tests and brain scans,” Dr. Karlawish wrote. “This is where the banking and financial services industries can help achieve our national “moonshot” goal of preventing Alzheimer’s disease by 2025.”

Penn Memory Center Coordinator of Diversity in Research and Education Karletta Poland (left), PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish (center left), and PMC ambassador Karen Wheeler (center right) pose with Alpha Phi Alpha brothers after “Alzheimer’s in our Community.”

by Joyce Lee

Karletta Poland, an experienced educator and program manager who has worked closely with the Philadelphia community, has joined Penn Memory Center as Coordinator of Diversity in Research and Education.

Poland will renew the center’s efforts in outreach and education with a focus on the aging African-American population in West Philadelphia. She will promote the recruitment and retention of older adults in research studies at PMC and connect them to the various resources and psychosocial services offered at the center.

Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish was recently awarded the Barbara Bell, M.D., award by the Eastern Pennsylvania Geriatrics Society (EPGS) at the EPGS Annual Meeting and Award Dinner.

The award, formed to honor the memory of Barbara Bell, is given to a physician “who has made significant contributions to the health and welfare of older adults, and who has improved the care of geriatric patients.”

Dr. Karlawish was recognized for this award due to his “tremendous investigative work in the development of Alzheimer’s disease treatments and diagnostics, informed consent, quality of life, and research and treatment decision-making,” according to a statement from EPGS.

Dr. Karlawish is a board-certified geriatrician who sees patients at PMC with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias or memory problems. As a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Karlawish also conducts research that focuses on the neuroethics and policy of aging, investigating issues on the development of Alzheimer’s disease treatments and diagnostics, biomarker-based concepts of disease, informed consent, and quality of life.

Join the Penn Memory Center this spring for Dance for Health: Active Body, Active Mind, a program in collaboration with the Ralston Center.

The goal of Dance for Health: Active Body, Active Mind is to promote brain health and intergenerational connectedness. Individuals will participate in a dance session once per week and an intergenerational activity with students from area high schools one per month. Participants will also complete surveys before and after the program.

Who: Open to individuals 55 years of age and older who are willing to participate in a weekly dance session for three months.
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Date: Every Saturday from February 24th to June 2nd* (excluding Memorial Day weekend)
Place: Ralston Center, 3615 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

To join us, please register by February 22nd by contacting Karletta Poland at 215-573-6095 or karletta.poland@uphs.upenn.edu

Penn Memory Center recently welcomed new Clinical Research Coordinator Matthew Ferrara, who will work on the ongoing National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) study at PMC.

The NACC study is the National Institute on Aging-funded initiative that follows older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease over time. Ferrara will help with scheduling and coordinating visits of research participants in the NACC cohort.

Matthew comes to PMC from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction, where he worked as a Clinical Research Assistant. Ferrara holds a bachelor’s of science in neuropsychology from Penn State University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Counseling and Mental Health Services at Penn. He hopes to earn a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology and work in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury in the future.

Join the Penn Memory Center on Friday, January 12, for a performance of the musical, “The Joint is Jumpin’” by the Philly Senior Stage Performers.

Friday, January 12 | 10:30 a.m. to noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

The Philly Senior Stage is a group dedicated to bringing the performing arts to senior adult communities, with the mission of using “the art form called theatre to unlock and unleash the creative energy residing in us all.”

The group has been performing since 2006, when founder Robb Hutter proposed acting and creative drama classes in the retirement community Shannondell at Valley Forge. The initiative quickly expanded to neighboring retirement communities, and now the Philly Senior Stage performs musicals, comedies, and dramas throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

The group works on conducting theater workshops in senior communities, creating original theater shows from the life experiences of participants, and staging classical and contemporary plays with older adults as actors, with the aim of fostering dramatic self-expression and building community.

For more information, visit the Philly Senior Stage website. To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.

The Penn Memory Center has welcomed Denille Carrington to the team as a patient service associate.

Carrington assists patient care coordinator Courtney Coulter with administrative duties at the PMC clinic space in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Her responsibilities include answering patient phone calls, requesting patient referrals, preparing physician clinical letters for patients, and handling PMC mailing and faxing.

Carrington graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in health policy and administration in December. She is interested in patient care and health administration, and she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in public health in the future.

Carrington replaces Grace Williamson, who joined the front desk staff in the Neuroscience Center as a patient service associate.

The Penn Memory Center Memory Café recently received a grant that will mean continued support of the coffee, treats, musical performances, and cultural outings at the monthly event.

The Penn Medicine CAREs grant is awarded to projects that seek to improve the health and well-being of the community Penn Medicine serves. The grant provides funding each quarter for expenses associated with community outreach activities within the Penn Medicine network.

by Joyce Lee

Penn Memory Center (PMC) senior research coordinator Kristin Harkins was recently honored for her research on health behaviors associated with cognitive decline.

Harkins and PMC clinical research coordinator Grace Stockbower presented their work at the American Public Health Association conference in Atlanta, GA.

Harkins, who presented her capstone Master of Public Health (MPH) project, was a co-recipient of the Retirement Research Foundation Master’s Student Research Award from the conference’s Aging and Public Health section. The award is for a study that is important to the field of aging, rigorous and organized, and potentially beneficial to the field.