Research, Advocacy, and the Fight Against Alzheimer’s

Living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as it slowly destroys memory and cognition is devastating, not just for the patient but also for their family and loved ones. Unfortunately, there are over 5 million AD patients in the U.S., and this number is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. In addition to diminished quality of life for patients and families, this also translates into unprecedented costs. If the current trajectory holds, costs associated with AD will increase to $1.5 trillion annually by 2050.

Promising breakthroughs on the horizon offer hope, but there is more work to be done. On December 1, join Schaeffer Center Director Dana Goldman in conversation with Paul Aisen, director of the USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute and Lauren Miller Rogen, a screenwriter, director, producer, and patient advocate whose life has been touched by the disease. They will discuss research, advocacy, and bringing awareness to AD.

Event Date
Tuesday, December 01, 2020
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Pacific
Location

Panel

Paul Aisen, M.D., is the founding director of USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute. Aisen has been a leading figure in Alzheimer’s disease research for more than two decades, having developed novel methodologies as well as designed and directed many large therapeutic trials. He received his B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard and his medical degree from Columbia. He completed his residency at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and then fellowship training in rheumatology at New York University. After serving as chief medical resident at Mount Sinai, he began a solo practice in internal medicine and rheumatology in New York. Aisen joined the faculty of Mount Sinai in 1994 and was recruited to Georgetown University in 1999 as a professor of neurology and medicine. That year, he founded the Memory Disorders Program, a clinical and research program for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. He continued basic research studies on therapeutic targets and biomarkers and designed and directed multicenter therapeutic trials. He became vice chair of the Department of Neurology at Georgetown in 2004. From 2007 through 2015, he was professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study.

Lauren Miller Rogen is a screenwriter, director, producer, dog lover, and philanthropist who was profoundly affected by Alzheimer’s when her mother was diagnosed at 55. Lauren co-founded HFC, harnessing humor and hope to activate a new generation of advocates. Since then, HFC has raised more than 13 million dollars and awarded 290,000 hours of in-home family care. Lauren is on the board of California’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine and sits on the California Alzheimer's Task Force. Her artistic accomplishments include co-writing and producing the film For A Good Time Call and writing and directing the Netflix dramedy Like Father, starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer.

Dana Goldman is the Interim Dean at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, as well as the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy, Public Policy, and Economics at the University of Southern California. Goldman began serving in his new capacity as interim dean on July 1, 2020. One of his first initiatives is to establish the Price School Social Justice Advisory Board representing faculty, staff and students. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance – two of his field’s highest honors.   He is the author of more than 300 articles and book chapters, and his research has been published in leading medical, economic, health policy, and statistics journals.  He has raised over $100 million in funding from external sources—including more than $50 million from the National Institutes of Health. Goldman pioneered the “Netflix model” to improve access to prescription drugs and the value of reduced copayments for the chronically ill.  He served as a formal health policy advisor to the Congressional Budget Office, Covered California, National Institutes of Health, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute.  He serves on the editorial boards of Health Affairs and the American Journal of Managed Care and is founding editor of the Forum for Health Economics and Policy. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street JournalWashington PostThe Economist, NBC Nightly News and other media.  He is former director of ISPOR and ASHEcon and a co-founder of Precision Health Economics, a health care consultancy.  Goldman received his B.A. summa cum laude from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.