This is my second year with Team Run to Remember. I have a
family connection to Alzheimer’s (my grandfather passed away with dementia, my
great uncle passed away with Alzheimer’s disease and my great aunt currently suffers
from vascular dementia). While training last year, I was completing my Ph.D. at
NYU School of Medicine. My thesis project involved identifying biomarkers and
risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
This research will be applied to developing techniques for early
detection and/or developing therapies. Grants from the Alzheimer’s Association
supported my thesis project and allows the work that I started to continue even
though I have graduated and moved on from the lab. I was actually writing my thesis while I was
training and completed all requirements about 3 months after I completed the
marathon. Now officially a “Dr”, I live, work and train in St. Louis, MO. My
current work is involves identifying sources of neuro-inflammation, which can
be applied to Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
The Alzheimer’s Association has played such an important
role in my life (I spent 5.5 years working on my thesis project) so being a
member of Team Run to Remember is a way for me to give back, while honoring my
family members and the friends of families of those that support me. I have
also made so many amazing friends on the team and so I also wish to honor them
and their loved ones! Alzheimer’s disease is a societal and public health
crisis thus I feel it is important to continue to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s and bring attention to the pain that it
inflicts on patients and the people that love them. 
No comments:
Post a Comment