ADRC News

At the Age of Aging, we often speak with researchers and clinicians who have devoted their careers to understanding dementia and caring for the people living with it. Less often, we hear what happens when dementia becomes personal for those same experts. In this episode, neuropsychologist Dr. Emma Rhodes shares her experience caring for her father, Jack, following his diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. In conversation with Penn Memory Center Director of Social Work Allison Lynn, Emma reflects on grief, stigma, caregiving, and the challenges of navigating life as both a dementia expert and a daughter. Then, Executive Producer Dr. Jason Karlawish and Read More The post Daughter, Doctor, or Both? On being both a dementia expert and a caregiver appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Daughter, Doctor, or Both? On being both a dementia expert and a caregiver

What makes a house a home? And what happens when that home no longer works for the person living in it? In this episode, we explore the emotional and practical challenges of downsizing and moving later in life — from letting go of decades of possessions to navigating dementia, family dynamics, and the fear of what comes next. The post Deconstructing Home: It’s Just Stuff appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Deconstructing Home: It’s Just Stuff

Welcome to our annual summer bonus episode of the Age of Aging, where our Penn Memory Center experts reflect on the latest research from the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC). On today’s episode, Age of Aging Executive Producer and PMC Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish sat down with Co-Director Dr. David Wolk and Dr. Chris Brown to unpack their biggest takeaways from their time in London. They discuss everything from new blood-based biomarkers to the latest data on anti-amyloid and tau-targeting therapies as well as what the future of Alzheimer’s treatment may look like. The Age of Aging will return Read More The post This Moment in Alzheimer’s 2026: Taking Stock and Looking Forward appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading This Moment in Alzheimer’s 2026: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. Constance McBride took a long look around the assisted living facility, struck by the gender imbalance among her mother’s peers. They were predominantly women — wives and mothers, shaped as children by the Great Depression, who had gone on to outlive their spouses. Many of these members of “The Lonely Girls” club were Read More The post Art of the Mind: The Lonely Girls appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Art of the Mind: The Lonely Girls

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. As Ria Hills visited her mother each day in the nursing home, she began to notice the other dementia residents fade away, as if in chunks. But as she looked closer, she realized that the image of the person was changed, but not lost. This sentiment shines through in “Fractured.” When Ria first Read More The post Fractured Portrait appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Fractured Portrait

Cognitive testing is an important part of aging and dementia research, but many people are unsure what the experience involves. In this new video, Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, PhD, director of cognitive fitness programs and neuropsychological services at the Penn Memory Center, explains why researchers use cognitive testing and what participants should expect during a visit. She discusses the thinking skills assessed, including memory and attention. She also explains what testing looks like, why family members usually wait outside the room, and how staff help participants feel at ease. What is cognitive testing? Cognitive testing helps researchers understand abilities in areas such Read More The post Cognitive Testing Explained: What Research Participants Should Expect appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Cognitive Testing Explained: What Research Participants Should Expect

At the Age of Aging, we are sometimes lucky enough to have too many great stories to fit into a single podcast episode. We ran into this fortunate circumstance last season with our episode, “Ambiguous Loss,” which shared the stories of two caregivers grappling with their loved one’s decline from dementia. On today’s mid-summer bonus episode, we share a third story we recorded that didn’t make the cut – not because it wasn’t good enough, but because it was too complete to be a piece of something else. Margo Woodacre is an author, teacher, former state senator, and for eight Read More The post Dancing in the Rain: Margo Woodacre On Finding Yourself After Caregiving appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Dancing in the Rain: Margo Woodacre On Finding Yourself After Caregiving

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. On a rainy Tuesday, Carl Duzen pulls open the garage door to his Havertown home as his wife, Susan Jewett, watches from the dry kitchen. He goes inside, dives into his toolbox — “he loves his tools,” Susan says — and finds a screwdriver. An old clunker of a television is positioned under Read More The post Finding beauty in what remains appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Finding beauty in what remains

From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers. Her car parked on the side of a steep Green Lane, Michele Davis looks out over her hometown. Ahead, there’s the iconic Manayunk Bridge, the face of the neighborhood visible to passers-by on the Schuylkill Expressway. Below, there’s Main Street, where 20-somethings fill the streets on warm summer afternoons and the bars on Read More The post Typical Day appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Typical Day

By Dalia Elsaid A blood test that costs a fraction of a brain scan could spare patients unnecessary procedures and give doctors more confidence in a diagnosis, according to a recent study.   Researchers followed 100 memory clinic patients who received a new blood test for Alzheimer’s disease. The test improved diagnostic confidence, reduced unnecessary imaging, and underscored the need for emotional support after results are shared.  Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease has long relied on procedures that are costly, invasive, or difficult to access, including brain scans that cost thousands of dollars and spinal fluid tests many patients find uncomfortable. A study published this spring Read More The post Blood test for Alzheimer’s reduces need for costly brain scans, study finds appeared first on Penn Memory Center. Continue reading Blood test for Alzheimer’s reduces need for costly brain scans, study finds