Penn Memory Center

For many years, a dementia diagnosis came with little hope and few treatment options. New research is beginning to change what is possible.

Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish joined NPR’s 1A from the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London. He discussed what recent advances mean for people living with Alzheimer’s and their families.

New treatments are slowing the disease for some people in its early stages. Blood tests and brain scans are helping doctors make more accurate diagnoses. Researchers are also working to identify risk before memory problems begin.

In Good Health: The Alzheimer’s Research Revolution : 1A An Alzheimer’s diagnosis can have a real impact on a person and their family. There’s a lot to consider — what the future will hold, what symptoms they’ll experience, and on what timeline.About 7.5 million people in the U.S. currently suffer from Alzheimer’s. Every year, around half a mill...

Why do people with the same genetic risk sometimes have different health outcomes? And how do different dementia-related diseases affect the brain in different ways?

Tomorrow at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC), Nadia Dehghani, Ph.D., will share research on genetic differences that could help explain why some people with the same inherited risk experience different disease outcomes.

Pulkit Khandelwal, PhD, will present research using postmortem MRI to examine how Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect parts of the brain involved in memory, emotion, and movement. His findings show distinct patterns of brain changes across different diseases.