FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Roxanne Alaniz
EMAIL: roxanne@alanizmarketing.com
PHONE: 415-892-5252
(San Francisco, CA) November 23, 2021 — Brain Health Registry (BHR) is launching a new Spanish-language site to celebrate the valuable impact that Latino and Hispanic volunteers make on clinical research. BHR recognizes the importance of developing diagnostic techniques and treatments for everyone, and to achieve this volunteers from all backgrounds and walks of life need to be included in research. They hope to increase Latino/Hispanic volunteer participation in Alzheimer’s disease research by connecting and engaging with potential volunteers through the new website.
“In the past, we didn’t use our resources to reach out in culturally appropriate ways. We haven’t done enough to make all people feel welcome,” said Michael Weiner, M.D., Professor in Residence in Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco; BHR Principal Investigator. BHR aims to change that. “It’s time to bridge the language barrier gap and let Spanish-speakers know that we appreciate their contributions to our research,” Weiner said.
Established in 2014, BHR leverages the reach of the internet to advance Alzheimer’s research. Volunteers take game-like online brain tests and complete questionnaires on their health, lifestyle, and memory. The brain tests and questionnaires provide information that helps the BHR team and other research scientists discover better ways to study, detect, and treat Alzheimer’s. Current research results aren’t broadly applicable because most of the volunteers thus far have been non-Hispanic white individuals.
Alzheimer’s research is advancing. Until recently, Alzheimer’s could only be diagnosed after death. Now, brain imaging with positron emission tomography (PET scans) can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in living people. New blood tests also provide diagnostic information. The FDA recently approved Aduhelm, a treatment that removes amyloid plaques, which have been linked to Alzheimer’s, from the brain. Several other treatments have FDA Breakthrough designation, which may lead to approval and more treatments.
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About the Brain Health Registry
The Brain Health Registry (BHR) is an online registry for recruitment, assessment, and longitudinal monitoring of cognition, function, and health in adult volunteers. The overall mission of BHR is to accelerate the development and implementation of improved diagnostic methods and treatments for Alzheimer’s and other disorders impacting cognitive and functional impairment. For more information, visit BHR’s Spanish-language website or English-language website.
