Principal Investigator: Dan
Mungas, Ph.D.
Medical Director: Charles DeCarli, M.D.
The UC Davis ARCC was established in 1985 in
Sacramento has provided leadership in Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
clinical care, research and education. As an Alzheimer’s Research Center of
California (ARCC), the Center is building upon the clinical, research,
educational and community base that has been developed to promote the
availability of high-quality clinical services for the growing, elderly segment
of the population in the region. The Center has traditionally served a very
large geographic area in northern California, much of which is rural. Research
programs associated with the Center have focused on cognitive and functional
impairment in elderly Hispanics.
The UCD ADC-S is one of two clinical sites
of a National Institute on Aging Alzheimer’s Disease Center (NIA ADC) and shares
in collaborative data collection and research associated with the NIA ADC. The
Center’s research efforts with Hispanic elderly are supported by three separate
grants from the NIA. The satellite clinic component of the NIA ADC supports
outreach to, and recruitment of, patients from this population. Dr. Mungas has a
grant, funded in 1992 and competitively renewed in 1997, to develop
psychometrically matched English and Spanish neuropsychological tests. Another
ongoing project at the ARCC is an epidemiological study of dementia and
functional impairment in elderly Hispanics. These two projects will provide an
excellent opportunity to cross-validate findings and methods from the ARCC
research projects on diagnostic methods using a population-based sample.
Patients identified in the epidemiological study will be followed in another
research project examining factors which influence access to recommended
services.
A central focus of the UCD ADC-S is
expanding services for rural and Hispanic northern Californians. The ARCC is
building upon existing UC Davis Health Care System strengths, including an
established network of primary care providers serving the Center’s catchment
area, its associated health maintenance organization, and an innovative UC Davis
Telemedicine program to accomplish these goals.
Alzheimer's Disease
Program
Mail Station 7210
Post Office Box 997413
Sacramento, CA 95899-7413
Phone (916) 552-8995
Fax (916) 552-9910
Internet: www.dhs.ca.gov/Alzheimers/
