Healthy Brain Aging and Dementia Prevention

UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center Hosts Brain Health Lecture

FREE, Reservations Required

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) – Rachel Whitmer from UC Davis will present “Brain Health: Looking Back to Move Forward” as part of an ongoing lecture series focused on healthy brain aging and dementia prevention.

Dr. Whitmer’s presentation will focus on modifiable risk factors over the lifecourse and how health in early life impacts cognitive aging.

The lecture will take place Thursday, Sept. 6 at the UC Davis MIND Institute Auditorium, 2825 50th St., Sacramento from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is free but reservations are required.

Whitmer is a professor in the UC Davis Department of Public Health Sciences and chief of the UC Davis Division of Epidemiology. She also leads the Population Science of Brain Health Laboratory. Whitmer’s research focuses on using epidemiological methods to reduce inequities in brain aging in racial and ethnic minority groups, those with diabetes, and individuals age 90 or older. She is the principal investigator of four National Institutes of Health-funded cohort studies on brain aging.

Whitmer will discuss risk factors to reduce dementia over one’s lifetime and how living a healthy lifestyle early on can positively impact cognitive aging. Whitmer will also address the concept of brain health as a lifetime pursuit, the importance of conducting studies in diverse populations, and the launch of the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) trial in early 2019. U.S POINTER is the first multi-domain behavioral intervention trial to reduce cognitive impairment funded by the Alzheimer’s Association.

The sixth and final lecture in the series will feature Denise Park, distinguished professor of behavioral and brain sciences at the University of Texas on Oct. 11.