ACT Events and Seminars

Dr. Shana Stites - Monday, April 10, 12-1pm PT

"Social and Structural Determinants of Alzheimer’s Disease"

Shana Stites, PsyD, MS, MA is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and co-lead of the UPenn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Lived Experiences Survey, which collects data on social and structural determinants of health. In this talk, Dr Stites will provide an update on this research and an overview of the ways social and structural determinants impact the early AD experience. This will include a description of the Lived Experiences Survey and latest findings. Read a description of Dr Stites research program here: https://pennmemorycenter.org/who-we-are/staff/shana-stites-psyd-ma-ms/ and access Penn Lived Experiences Survey materials here: https://upenn.box.com/s/zgo58re9netwxphbiixthjmjhsg6cae0

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Dr. Hormuzd Katki - Monday, March 10, 12-1pm PT

"Fundamentals of cancer screening: Thoughts for Alzheimer’s Dementia screening?"

Cancer screening has had large impact on reducing death and morbidity for certain major cancers (cervix, colorectal, breast).  High hopes are raised for potential future Alzheimer Dementia (AD) screening.  However, screening is more intellectually complicated than initially meets the eye.  I present an introduction to the principles of screening for AD researchers, with examples from cancer and discussion of past and current controversies.  I discuss how individualized life-expectancy can be used to estimate the benefit of screening to make decisions on when to start/stop screening. I raise some potential key questions about AD that need to be answered to progress on the path towards AD screening.

Dr. Hormuzd Katki is a Senior Investigator in the Biostatistics Branch of the NCI.  His research focuses on methodologies and novel approaches to cancer screening.  He developed the prediction models and risk calculations that underlie the cervical cancer screening guidelines since 2012.  He developed a series of prediction models for lung cancer risk and benefit from lung cancer screening that are recommended for use by some guidelines.  Recently he has developed new screening trial designs with application to multicancer detection screening.

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Dr. Jordan Weiss

New York University 

Optimal Aging Institute

Title: Estimates of Lifetime Dementia Risk 

Monday, December 9, 12-1pm PT

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

Dr. Magali Blanco - Monday, October 28, 12-1pm PT

"Leveraging Environmental Data to Advance Robust Exposure Assessment for Environmental Epidemiology"

Exposure assessment is essential in environmental epidemiology, enabling robust investigations. This presentation will focus on Dr. Blanco's work utilizing both established and novel environmental data to enhance exposure assessment methodologies. The emphasis will be on air pollution, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), and equity-focused research involving vulnerable communities. Topics will include linking long-term air pollution exposures to ADRD in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, designing innovative monitoring strategies, and developing approaches to characterize disparities in exposure, particularly among vulnerable populations.

Dr. Magali Blanco holds a BA in Biology from Lewis & Clark College, an MS in Occupational and Environmental Exposure Science from the University of Washington (UW), and a PhD in Environmental Health from the UW. She has additional training in biostatistics, epidemiology, and data science, which she regularly applies in her research. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) at the UW, where her work focuses on data-driven research around air pollution, environmental health, and equity.

 

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

Dr. David Marquez “Brain health in older Latinos: Prospective studies and Clinical trials”

Monday, April 29th from 12-1 PM PST

Link to recording of seminar

Time Use Surveys: An Introduction and Workshop with Dr. Gretchen Donehower

April 8, 2024 12-1 PM PT

Dr. Gretchen Donehower is a researcher at the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging at the University of California, Berkeley.  With training in demography, statistics, and economics, Dr. Donehower leads work in population simulations and forecasting and understanding how people produce, consume, and save by age.  Her us of  innovative methods, including time use surveys, focuses on understanding how production, consumption, and "women's work," including unpaid care and housework, differs for men and women over the life course and across countries.  

This seminar will introduce time use surveys and present examples of her work from around the world.  Dr. Donehower will discuss examples relevant to the ACT Study.  Please email Sarah (st3144@cumc.columbia.edu) with any specific questions or examples you would like covered in seminar by Monday, April 1. 

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

Dr. Annemarie Koster

The 24-hour activity cycle research in the Maastricht Study

February 28, 2024 8-9 AM PT

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

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Meeting ID: 667 690 6957

 

Dr. Laura Gibbons, Monday 11/13, 12-1 PM Pacific/3-4 PM Eastern 

"Generalizing research from ACT to all older adults in the Seattle area"

Dr. Laura Gibbons is a biostatistician specializing in measurement issues in cognitive aging. She has been on the program committee and teaching faculty for the annual Advanced Psychometric Methods in Cognitive Aging Research Conference from 2005 to the present, and has enjoyed working with the ACT study since 1996. 

ACT Project 1 Seminar with Drs. Laura Brocklebank & Mikaela Bloomberg on the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

October 24, 2023

Link to recording of seminar  

See their recent publication here:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666756823000831?via%3Dihub

 

 

"Structural Determinants of Cognitive Aging," with Dr. Justina Avila-Rieger.  

Monday, September 25, 2023

Link to recording of seminar

Dr. Justina Avila-Rieger is an associate research scientist in Neurology at the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute for Research in Aging and Alzheimer’s disease at Columbia University. She received her PhD from the University of New Mexico with an emphasis on Neuropsychology and Quantitative Methodology and completed her clinical internship in Neuropsychology at the Baltimore VAMC. During her graduate and postdoctoral training, she also specialized in health policy as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Fellow and a 2021-2022 Health and Aging Policy Fellow. Dr. Avila-Rieger’s research focuses on identifying and understanding macro-social determinants of sex/gender and racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s disease. She is passionate about amplifying the voices and experiences of communities that are traditionally marginalized in dementia-related research and policy. Her long-term goal is to conduct research that directly influences the development of health policy solutions aimed at eliminating Alzheimer’s disease disparities.

 

Dr. Strand will give an overview of the possibilities for studies on the epidemiology of ageing related outcomes such as Alzheimer's disease, cognition, and physical capability in Scandinavia, with focus on Norway. He will give examples from his own research, including time trends on cognition, healthy life years and grip strength as well as new results on social and demographic factors associated with dementia from the NIH-project Changing Lives, Changing Brains.

Dr. Strand's publications are listed here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1BoYstFVzEuEJ8/bibliography/public/

Dr. Bjørn Heine Strand (PhD, MSc) has background in biostatistics and epidemiology and is a research professor at The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) and at the Norwegian National Center on Ageing and Health. He investigates life-course models for adult health outcomes with focus on socioeconomic inequalities, using large health examination studies linked with national registry data. During the last decade, after his postdoc period 2008-2010 with National Institute on Aging (NIA/NIH), his work has focused on aging related research. In a current NIH R01-project, "Changing Lives, Changing Brains" (R01 AG069109) (2020-2025) lead by Columbia together with UPenn and NIPH, he is the site principal investigator at NIPH.  Dr. Strand is an expert in  physical capability, aiming to clarify whether older adults of today have better physical capability than previous generations; "Is 70 the new 60?" Dr. Strand was the principal investigator for data collection on physical function in 7th data collection wave of the Tromsø Study, and is involved in several Tromsø and Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) projects, both doing research and mentoring PhD students.

Recording of June 12, 2023 talk

Recording of February 27, 2023 seminar: Drs. Jason Flatt and Goleen Samari

Dr. Samari is an expert in the study of race and ethnicity in health, and Dr. Flatt is an expert in the study of cognitive health in the LGBTQIA+ population.  Both helped revise related questions in the ACT interviews.

Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Among LGBTQIA+ Populations

Jason D. Flatt, PhD, MPH (Pronouns: He/Him/They/Them) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, and Jason’s current research works to better understand concerns and needs of diverse LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual as well as additional identities) people living with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and their care providers. Jason also works with several communities on theriseregistry.org/, one of the first registries for LGBTQIA+ people experiencing memory loss or caring for someone with memory loss. Jason’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging; American Federation for Aging Research; Alzheimer’s Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Incorporating Race and Ethnicity into Health Research 

Goleen Samari, PhD, MPH, MA (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.  She is a population health demographer whose research focuses on social inequities and health. She examines how racism, gender inequities, and migration-based inequities shape population and reproductive health both domestically and globally with a particular focus on communities in or from the Middle East and North Africa. She focuses on issues related to immigrant health, women's health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She was the first to draw attention to racialization of religious minorities and Islamophobia as a public health issue. She is also one of a handful of public health researchers examining women's empowerment, gender equity, and reproductive health in the Middle East and North Africa. Her recent work includes a measure of structural xenophobia in the U.S. at the state level, the Immigrant Policy Climate index, that can be leveraged to understand the health implications of exclusionary and inclusive immigration contexts. Her research remains focused on understanding and alleviating intersectional structural determinants of health. Cutting across all her research areas is an interest in the way social science constructs are measured and mixed methods that guide the research process. 

 

Jennifer Weuve, MPH, ScD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). In her research, she pursues answers to questions in two major realms of human health: (1) the forces that accelerate the aging of the brain and body, and (2) the health effects of being exposed to environmental toxicants. Underlying all of her research is a foundation in epidemiologic methods.

Recording of Jennifer's January 20, 2023 talk entitled, "Causal Inference Primer, Part II"