ALABAMA: UAB receives $21.4 million from NIH to expand Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded an estimated $21.4 million five-year grant to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

People born in the Deep South have a 20 percent to 30 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. In 2020, UAB became an exploratory ADRC to advance research in dementia disparities in the region. The new grant allows the team to extend its research efforts.

“We hope to use the data collected through the ADRC to translate research findings into advances in the care, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,” said Erik Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., Rebecca Gale-Heersink endowed chair in the UAB Department of Neurology and the center director.