University of California, Los Angeles

May 4, 2009 -- At UCLA we have an Alzheimer's research center that is looking at a variety of medications for better treatments of Alzheimer's disease. We also have an NIA-supported program project grant that is looking at better brain imaging markers and blood tests to help us understand the disease better and perhaps diagnose it earlier.

I'm convinced that within the next decade, if we stay on course, we will have much more effective treatments and we will be able to diagnose a problem much earlier in its course. I think it's going to be easier to protect a healthy brain rather than try to treat a brain once damage has set in. So, I think there's a lot of cause for hope in the area of research in Alzheimer's disease at UCLA and throughout the world.