Brain Talk | Being Patient for Alzheimer's Patients and Caregivers

Receiving an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is often a long, complex process, with many individuals facing delayed diagnosis or even misdiagnosis for years. A key reason for misdiagnosis could be the amount of training doctors are receiving on cognitive decline.  University of Washington’s Dr. Barak Gaster is trying to fill that gap in his work directing the Cognition in Primary Care Program, which trains...

Alzheimer’s advocate Myra Garcia joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her experience with early-onset Alzheimer’s and her work with the Latino community to shed light on the disease.  After a career in classical music, performing in musicals and operas around the world, Garcia changed careers to work in higher education when her second child was born. A decade ago, Garcia started to have diff...

Dr. Catherine Madison joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss how patients experience anosognosia in dementia, which is a neurological condition in which you are unaware of having a particular disease. She’ll explain how understanding this symptom can help caregivers step into dementia’s reality.  Madison became a neurologist after being a caregiver to her mother, who died of dementia in 2011. S...

Rutgers’ neurologist Dr. William T. Hu joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss his research on “brain fog” or cognitive impairment in Long COVID and its relation to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.  Read about his research here: https://www.beingpatient.com/long-covid-brain-fog-alzheimers/   Hu directs the Division of Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Clinic at Robert Wood Jo...

With scientists studying if new semaglutide weight loss drugs could potentially treat dementia, many have questions about the potential impact of Ozempic and Wegovy on the brain. University of Virginia’s Dr. Heather Ferris joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss the current research on the impact of semaglutide drugs on brain health.   An Associate Professor and endocrinologist at the University...

Alzheimer’s advocate Reda Harrison joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her experience with her diagnosis of dementia, and later Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and early-onset Alzheimer’s. She’ll also discuss how those diagnoses led her to work with the Alzheimer’s Association and back into quilting.   Harrison was diagnosed with MCI in 2018 and is now in the early stages of Alzheimer’s dis...

Internationally acclaimed author, Age Wave co-founder, and longevity expert Maddy Dychtwald joined Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her latest book, Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan (Mayo Clinic Press). She also discussed the research that informed the book and key strategies women can take to improve their brains and overall health as they age. ...

UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health’s Dr. Melissa Rosenkranz joins us to discuss her research on the link between asthma and dementia, specifically focusing on the impact of chronic, systemic inflammation on brain health.  Rosenkranz holds the Distinguished Chair in Contemplative Neuroscience at the Center for Healthy Minds and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry...

USC Evolutionary Biologist David Raichlen joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss how exercise and physical activity can benefit brain health, particularly for older adults.  Raichlen is a professor at the Human and Evolutionary Biology section of the Department of Biological Sciences at USC. His research focuses on the connection between human evolution, physical activity, and health across the...

University of California Berkeley neurologist Dr. Mark D’Esposito joined Being Patient live talks to discuss how people concerned about Alzheimer’s risk can optimize their brain health and function. He’ll also discuss how neural mechanisms impact cognition to provide context on strategies for improving brain health. D’Esposito’s research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying cognition and ho...

While Alzheimer’s disease isn’t curable, research shows it may be preventable or postponable by controlling lifestyle factors like diet. Yet, with so many types of diets emerging, it’s hard to know what’s a fad and what lifestyle changes can actually support brain health. USC’s Dr. Hussein Yassine joins Being Patient live talks to answer questions about how diet affects brain health. Yassine is an...

Two thirds of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are women. In addition, research shows that Alzheimer’s biomarker tau protein accumulates differently and more quickly in women’s brains. Researchers like Rosalind Franklin University’s Lise Eliot are investigating how differences in brain structure for men and women are impacting Alzheimer’s risk. Eliot joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss thes...

Former neuroscience nurse practitioner and Alzheimer’s advocate Doreen Monks joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her experience with diagnosis and her path toward advocacy. As she shared in her previous live talk with us, Monk was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2016 at age 63, after which she became dedicated to sharing her story and working with organizations like Voices of Alzhe...

Sarah Widmeyer joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her experience caring for her mother, Elaine, who passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2022, and how the experience set her off on the path to advocating for more gender diversity in clinical research. Widmeyer is an SVP of Wealth Strategies and CMO at Richardson Wealth, and she’s passionate about improving research and access to care for women....

Pediatric psychotherapist Amanda Sullivan joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss Leaf, a children’s book that commemorates the life of her mother, who died of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2022. Sullivan wrote the book after struggling to find any children’s books on FTD for her own children. Leaf tells the story of her mother’s life in the hopes of giving young readers a chance to learn mor...

Brain health researchers are exploring new ways to leverage AI in the diagnosis of diseases like Alzheimer’s. One emerging field of study is that of vocal biomarkers: the way our voices sound. Some companies are even developing personal smart devices to identify vocal biomarkers — and, perhaps one day in the future, to aid in early diagnosis or even disease prevention. We asked David Liu, the CEO...

High-tech treatments for neurodegenerative diseases are on the horizon. In fact, some patients already have brain implants that help address their symptoms through “reprogramming the brain.” Hear from one patient and his doctor about the real-life story behind this innovative new treatment for Parkinson’s. Speaker, author, and Parkinson’s Disease advocate Benjamin Stecher and neurologist Dr. Alfon...

In this live-streamed Q&A with Positive Approach to Care founder and dementia care expert Teepa Snow, she answered Being Patient readers’ questions in real-time. Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an Occupational Therapist with over forty years of clinical and academic experience. Her experiences led her to the development of the GEMS® States of Brain Change and the Positive Approach® training strateg...

Alzheimer’s educator and activist Rebecca Chopp, Ph. D., joins Being Patient Live talks to discuss her upcoming book “Still Me: Accepting Alzheimer’s Without Losing Yourself.” As she discussed in a previous live talk with us, she’ll also be speaking about how she defies the stigma of Alzheimer’s by living with joy. Before Chopp’s diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s in 2019, she...

Dr. Ifrah Zawar joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss seizures, cognitive decline, and dementia. As she discussed in our article on seizures, epilepsy can accelerate cognitive decline, and the condition can also be mistaken for cognitive decline. Watch the live talk to learn more about the connection between seizures, cognitive decline, and dementia.

Lou Niles joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss his experience taking part in the donanemab clinical trial. The monoclonal antibody drug was revealed to have promising results in late 2023 and is currently awaiting FDA approval. Now retired, Niles previously served as an army officer, a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and as a firefighter and paramedic in San Diego. Because his mother died...

Dr. Ifrah Zawar joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss seizures, cognitive decline, and dementia. As she discussed in our article on seizures, epilepsy can accelerate cognitive decline, and the condition can also be mistaken for cognitive decline. Zawar is an adult neurologist, epileptologist, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia. Her clinical and research work focuses on se...

Clinical psychologist, educator, and author Dasha Kiper joins Being Patient Live Talks to discuss her book "Travelers to Unimaginable Lands." Using her experience as a caregiver and counselor and research on neurological and cognitive research, Kiper shares stories of caregivers and people living with dementia in the book. In particular, using stories and neurological research together,...

The process of finding new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease is one of trial and error — and every “failed” trial generates invaluable new data to help researchers and drug developers understand what works, what doesn’t, and why. On Wednesday, January 24th, at 10:00 a.m. PT/1:00 p.m. ET, drug trial participant Bill Sasse, who was a participant in Eli Lilly’s clinical trial of experimental monoclo...

Award-winning dementia researcher and educator Dr. Nir Grossman joins Being Patient Live Talks to talk about the potential of cutting-edge medical technology like deep brain stimulation as an emerging approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Grossman is an associate professor at the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London and a founding fellow of the UK Dem...