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Dana Goldberg (bottom right) presented at World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in June 2016.

Dana Goldberg looks at the problem of financial abuse of seniors and sees an epidemic.

Older adults in the US have a steady source of income whether they are wealthy or not, making them a target for scammers. Additionally, changes in older adults’ cognition can make financial management more difficult. The result is that every year billions of dollars are lost in the US to fraud and exploitation.

“This is an epidemic and we need to treat it that way,” Goldberg said.

Bob Ibold is known to many as “The Mask Man.”

He is an expert collector and curator of masks from around the world. But Ibold does not use his masks to hide or obscure his identity. He embraces who he is, especially when it comes to the discussion of his cognitive decline.

Ibold was recently featured in the American Journal of Public Health, in an article titled “A Typical Day With Mild Cognitive Impairment.”

Occasionally, art and science come together so that each can breathe new life into the other.

Artist Patricia Moss-Vreeland has joined the theme of memory and mixed-media arts in her exhibition “Revelations and Transformation, Layers of Memory,” now on display at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine’s “Art of the Mind” gallery space.

A bipartisan Congressional deal reached Sunday night calls for an additional $400 million in funding for Alzheimer’s disease research as part of a $2 billion increase in this year’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget, StatNews reported.

The increase will bring federal funding of Alzheimer’s disease research to $1.4 billion, a threefold increase over the last five years, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

The deal does not address 2018, when President Donald Trump has called for an 18-percent cut in the NIH budget. The NIH supports medical research across the nation, including at the Penn Memory Center (PMC).

Visitors to this month’s Memory Café were treated to a unique performance by singer/songwriter Umer Piracha.

Piracha’s music is a multilingual blend of Pakistani-folk-inspired songs, performed alongside more traditionally Western tracks. A Pakistani native and a longtime resident of Philadelphia, Piracha infuses his performances with conversation and storytelling to lead his audiences through various musical influences and traditions.

Jericó, Antioquia, Colombia (Credit: Melissa Sanchez A.)

The Colombian region of Antioquia is a 12-hour drive from the border of Panama, but it is in some ways the center of the world of Alzheimer’s disease research.

Antioquia is “genetically isolated” and has a large population carrying a rare gene that increases their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. This makes its residents ideal human models for Alzheimer’s disease, but researchers must first weigh the legal, ethical, and social implications of working with this cohort.

Such was the focus of a presentation made by Penn Memory Center Co-Director Jason Karlawish at Columbia University March 27.

From left: Kelsey Fleming, Megan Fucci, Deirdre MacFarlane, Lauren Tempesta

Megan Fucci, Kelsey Fleming, Deirdre MacFarlane, and Lauren Tempesta have successfully completed their internship in clinical social work at the Penn Memory Center, a final step towards earning their Masters in Social Work degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. The students had been Penn Aging Concentration Fellows in the program.

“I had the honor and privilege of supervising all four Advanced Year students at the PMC,” said Felicia Greenfield, director of clinical research operations and care programs. “They each brought so much to our center, and it is with mixed emotions that their internship is coming to an end.”

The question was asked a few different times and in a few different ways, but each time the message was essentially the same: How can I prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

Facing a room of dozens of older Philadelphians, Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish told the crowd that while there are clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania and across the globe, a miracle drug that will prevent or cure all types of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is not in sight.

There is myriad data showing that what’s good for the heart — a healthy diet and regular exercise — is good for the brain and may decrease one’s risk of dementia, especially dementia caused by vascular disease, he explained. But we’ve yet to discover a treatment that targets Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Speaking as part of the Friends in the City Lecture Series, Karlawish encouraged the audience to consider, for example, the impact of self-driving vehicles on aging adults with memory loss. By removing the worry of getting lost traveling to a daughter’s house, a mother can maintain her independence that much longer.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging needs your help to combat Alzheimer’s disease.

Teresa Osborne led a roundtable discussion at a regional Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Forum Wednesday at Ralston House​.

The forum brought together stakeholders from local communities throughout the Philadelphia area and the surrounding counties to discuss their engagement in, and the progress of, Pennsylvania’s State Plan for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. The forums are also intended to inspire action by fostering a deeper understanding of Alzheimer’s and the public health crisis it poses. 

Join the Penn Memory Center team as we welcome singer/songwriter Umer Piracha to our next Memory Café, April 21 at Christ Church Neighborhood House.

Piracha’s music is a multilingual blend of Pakistani-folk-inspired songs, performed alongside more traditionally Western tracks. A Pakistani native and a longtime resident of Philadelphia, Piracha infuses his performances with conversation and storytelling to lead his audiences through various musical influences and traditions.