Resources
Community Programs
USC CADC delivers a variety of education and outreach activities throughout Southern California
Past Events
7th Annual Brain Health Forum - November 12, 2022
Lecture #1 – Varieties of Forgetfulness
HELENA CHUI, MD, Chair and Professor of Neurology. Dr. Chui is internationally recognized for her research in Alzheimer disease and vascular cognitive impairment. She is the principal investigator for the NIA-funded Alzheimer Disease Research Center, as well as a multi-institutional program project on vascular dementia. Dr. Chui is the author of over 120 publications and has served on the editorial board for Stroke, Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, and Archives of Neurology.
During the past 30 years, her research interests have focused on vascular contributions to cognitive impairment in late life. She has been particularly interested in nonocclusive pathways leading from vascular risk factors to vascular brain injury or Alzheimer pathology.
Learn from Lecture #1
After giving a brief overview of the memory system, Dr. Chui discusses the spectrum of forgetfulness – from normal aging to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia – and an accompanying range of underlying causes. She concludes her talk with a guide for prevention and treatment. Click the link below to view the slides from Dr. Chui’s presentation.
Lecture #2 – Benefits of Participating in Research
DIANA FERMAN, PA-C, Diana is a physician assistant clinician at the Memory and Aging Center at USC Keck School of Medicine. She has been working with the ADRC research team since 2020. As one of our research clinicians, Diana provides clinical assessments of our participants at their visits.
Learn from Lecture #2
Diana goes over the many benefits of participating in a research study, as well as what they may involve, focusing on the ADRC’s current studies. Click the link below to view the slides from Diana’s presentation.
Benefits of Participating in Research – presentation slides
Lecture #3 – Finding the Right Words
CINDY WEINSTEIN, PHD, Dr. Weinstein is the Eli and Edythe Broad Professor of English at the California Institute of Technology, where she teaches and writes books about US literature. Her three monographs have been published in Cambridge’s prestigious series: Studies in American Literature and Culture. She has also edited several volumes including A Question of Time: American Literature from Colonial Encounter to Contemporary Fiction. Dr. Weinstein brings her love and knowledge of to her most recent prize-winning book, written with Dr. Bruce Miller of UCSF – Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain.
Bringing together literature and neurology, a daughter’s love for her father, and a scientist’s understanding of the brain, Finding the Right Words tells the story of Jerry Weinstein who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the 1980’s and died in 1997. With compassion and expertise, Bruce responds to the painful clinical presentations Cindy describes including word-finding difficulty, spatial disorientation, behavioral changes, and memory loss. Each chapter, and the book as a whole, models a conversation based on deep listening and mutual respect between a doctor and a family member of a loved one who has dementia. Click the link below to view the slides from Dr. Weinstein’s presentation.
USC Batey Research Participation Appreciation Event - September 17, 2022
Lecture #1 – USC Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Research
IOANNIS PAPPAS, PhD, Assistant Professor of Research Neurology at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. Dr. Pappas received his PhD from Cambridge University in the UK, followed by post-doctoral training in stroke research at UC-Berkley.
Learn from Lecture #1
How MRIs, PET scans and computerized neuroimaging has and is moving the field of dementia research forward. See how your participation is one more scan, one more test that will get us closer to treatments and cures.
Lecture #2 – Prodromal vs. Prevention Clinical Trials
LON SCHNEIDER, MD, MS, The Della Martin Endowed Professor Psychiatry, Neurology and Gerontology at USC. He directs the USC California Alzheimer’s Disease Center, the Geriatric Studies Center, and the Clinical Core of the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Dr. Schneider is an international expert on clinical trial design for Alzheimer’s disease, including the testing of novel compounds, improving the assessment of outcome, and enhancing the study design of clinical trials.
Learn from Lecture #2
Learn what clinical trials are all about. Learn how researchers approach the complexity of preventing Alzheimer’s.
Lecture #3 – Neuronal Cell Type Susceptibility in Alzheimer’s Disease
MICHAEL BIENKOWSKI, PHD, Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience. He directs the USC center for Integrative Connectomics at the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. Dr. Bienkowski and his team strive to unravel the intricacies of brain circuitry and how it breaks down in Alzheimer’s disease and Related Disorders. His research focuses on defining neuronal networks in animals and human beings, based on cellular gene expression and morphology, together with network connectivity and function.
Learn from Lecture #3
Learn how USC is studying the 86 billion neurons of our brain structure and working to find ways to protect us against neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Lecture #4 –
HUSSEIN YASSINE, M.D, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology. Dr. Yassine received his medical degree from the Beirut Arab University in Lebanon in 2003. He then completed his residency training in endocrinology at the University of Arizona in 2010, before joining USC in 2012.
MARIA ARANDA, PhD, MSW, MPA, LCSW, Associate Professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She is the Executive Director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging. Dr. Aranda studies the effects of depression and dementia on patients and their caregivers, with a particular focus on the Latinx community.