Your Gift in Action at the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer's Disease Center 2019

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your gift in

AT THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE CENTER

thank you Since 2012, when we founded the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Disease Center (RMADC), your support has allowed us to grow exponentially while achieving our major goals of providing exceptional clinical care and engaging in innovative research. Our center has grown from one part-time neurologist to five full-time behavioral neurologists, one part-time behavioral neurologist, two full-time neuropsychologists, and a team of six clinical professional research assistants.

The RMADC laboratory has grown to include 16 scientists, with faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and professional research assistants who collaborate with researchers throughout the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and around the world. Innovative clinical and laboratory research carried out at the RMADC has resulted in numerous publications, grant applications and awards, and presentations at national and international symposia. We also translated one of our

discoveries into the first clinical trial of the FDA-approved drug Leukine®/sargramostim in subjects with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. This trial is near completion, and we are hopeful about the results.

We are also in the midst of a project to discover other known human drugs that may be repurposed to interfere with a key step in the Alzheimer’s pathogenic pathway in preparation for further testing in animals and, if successful, in humans. Fueled by your support, we continue to enhance our competitiveness to secure more National Institute of Health funding, and eventually National Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center designation. Thank you for your continued philanthropic support.

- Huntington Potter, PhD Director, Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Disease Center

YOU’VE MADE THIS POSSIBLE At the RMADC, we are providing innovative clinical care to our patients while advancing research into effective early diagnostics, preventions, treatments and, ultimately, cures for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. In the Memory Disorders Clinic at the RMADC, we assess and care for aging patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, younger patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, patients with non-memory Alzheimer’s disease, and patients with related dementias.

The RMADC Memory Disorders Clinic treated a total of 2,736 patients last year and relocated to the Behavioral Neurology Clinic at Stapleton Medical Center. This medical center is staffed by a comprehensive team to provide the best care possible.

by the numbers *giving to the RMADC since 2017

12

Peer Reviewed Research Articles

521 Total Benefactors*

$4,911,848 Total Giving*

FUELED BY PHILANTHROPY Continued Progress in the Leukine® Clinical Trial

The RMADC has continued its clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of Leukine® as a treatment for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. This year, eight out of the ten remaining subjects completed all phases of the three-week Leukine® trial, and the final two subjects will complete the trial by December 2019. We anticipate beginning recruitment for the longer sixmonth efficacy trial for Leukine® in early 2020, which will take at least two years to complete.

Propelling the Bio-AD Longitudinal Study

Importantly, in the past three-and-a-half years, we have enrolled 142 individuals in our ongoing, prospective longitudinal study, called Bio-AD. This study is following aging- and Alzheimer’s disease-related changes in a large cohort that will eventually include up to 400 aging adults. Bio-AD will offer new insights into the causes and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias while also informing the development of novel therapies.

Reaching Our Communities

Members of the RMADC have given over 60 presentations to scientific, medical and community audiences, and several reports related to our research have appeared in the media, including in The Washington Post and The Denver Post, and in several special reports on local news channels.

The RMADC continues to focus community outreach activities toward underrepresented populations, including African Americans. A study group, Boot Camp Translation, launched in 2018 was renamed the African American Community Advisory Committee. This committee now has 18 participants. These volunteers represent the RMADC at various community events such as block parties and health fairs, encouraging friends and neighbors to become more informed about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. They also offer panel presentations to interested groups, inspiring listeners with their personal experiences as family members and care providers, educating audiences about dementia, and encouraging people to participate in RMADC research.

BRICE MCCONNELL, MD, PHD Brice McConnell, MD, PhD, joined the CU Anschutz Medical Campus first as a student in the MD/PhD program. He was then a neurology resident and behavioral neurology fellow, and now serves as an assistant professor. He is investigating the restorative and neuroprotective aspects of sleep to understand how sleep and the immune system interact during normal aging and during the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. McConnell hopes to develop technology to restore the most critical neuroprotective aspects of sleep to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease.

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“I’m continuously impressed by the value that is gained by giving to research at CU. Researchers within the RMADC are extremely hardworking and dedicated, and we’re committed to making sure that gifts to our research have a maximal impact in this field. Your generous support makes my work possible.”

CHRISTINA COUGHLAN, PHD Christina Coughlan, PhD, joined the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in 2011 and is a major collaborator at the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Her research is focused on developing biomarkers to better diagnose and track the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s disease process starts as early as 20 years before clinical symptoms arise. By the time symptoms are identified, it is difficult to reverse the cognitive effects of the disease. Our goal is to design a blood test that detects early signs of Alzheimer’s so that we can more effectively prevent its progression.

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“I’m looking forward to an eventual cure for Alzheimer’s disease. This disease etches away at the very essence of what makes us unique, eroding precious memories that we have spent our lifetimes generating, helping define who we are and who we want to be. I cannot think of anything more rewarding than contributing to the development of a cure for this devastating disease.”

CU Anschutz Office of Advancement | advancement@cuanschutz.edu | 303.724.6336 If you would prefer to receive these updates electronically, please email advancement@cuanschutz.edu