Think Science live Q&A to explore dementia in South Texas

Texas Public Radio will partner with UT Health San Antonio to serve the community at the next Think Science live program, sharing the latest information about the connections between brain and body health and new developments in the fight against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The event features presentations by experts from UT Health San Antonio and an opportunity for audience members to ask questions of researchers to learn more about how to stay mentally agile and fit throughout life. Think Science will be at 7 p.m. June 7 at the UT Health San Antonio Long Campus, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Click here to register.

Topics will include:

  • Stroke: What are the risk factors for it, including diabetes?
  • Why do Hispanics have a higher risk for dementia? Is it genetics, environment, lifestyle?
  • What new treatments are there for dementia — and how can we get them faster?

Leading this presentation will be the founding director of UT Health San Antonio’s Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Sudha Seshadri, MD, who also serves as the director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA)-designated South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, the only such NIA-designated center in Texas.

PANEL:

Sudha Seshadri, MD, completed her MBBS from the Christian Medical College, Madras University, and her MD in internal medicine and DM in neurology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Additionally, she completed a residency in neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine and a fellowship in the neurobiology of aging and Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. She previously worked as assistant professor of neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and professor of neurology and attending neurologist at the Boston University School of Medicine.

As founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Seshadri oversees, integrates and coordinates all activities of the Biggs Institute, which will share space in a new Center for Brain Health building with UT Health San Antonio’s Department of Neurology. The neurology department, offering care and research of Parkinson’s disease, ALS and other disorders, is part of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano School of Medicine.

Seshadri is a recognized thought leader in Alzheimer’s disease, having recently co-authored position papers disseminated by the National Academy of Sciences on ”Preventing Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Way Forward,”  and by the American Heart Association on ”Defining Optimal Brain Health in Adults.” She has lectured extensively, nationally and internationally, on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and the genetics of stroke and vascular brain injury.

Claudia Satizabal, PhD, is an epidemiologist currently working as an assistant professor at the Biggs Institute at UT Health San Antonio, where she leads the Population Neuroscience Core. Satizabal’s research focuses on lifestyle and genetic factors contributing to healthy brain aging versus those leading to dementia. In her current work, she is investigating markers to identify people at risk of dementia before irreversible damage, the role of the gut microbiome on Alzheimer’s disease, and the continuation of a local cohort study (the San Antonio Heart and Mind Study, or SAHMS) to better understand brain aging in the community. She is also actively involved in national and international collaborations to advance dementia research.

 



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