Elise Rice
$758,806
Bei Wu
RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
New Jersey
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Asian and Pacific Americans (APAs) have undergone the greatest growth among all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. between 2000 and 2020. In the New York City/New Jersey (NYC/NJ) area, older (65+) Asian Indian and Chinese American populations have increased by 73% and 74% over the past ten years. While claims-based studies in the U.S. have previously suggested lower prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) in older APAs, this finding may have resulted from underdiagnosis associated with not having culturally and linguistically appropriate tools, clinicians, or systems. Older APAs with AD/ADRD in the U.S. thus face both the problem of under-diagnosis and under-provision of care as a whole, even as great disparities exist within and between APA subgroups. What’s more, the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated anti-Asian discrimination brought greater social isolation to older Chinese and non-Chinese APA adults over the past three years than other groups. These factors together formed the foundation of the Resource Center for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research in Asian and Pacific Americans (RCASIA) with missions of 1) increasing scientists underrepresented in AD/ADRD-related Behavioral, Social, and Economic Research biomedical research through innovative models of mentoring and community interaction; 2) advancing the rigor and impact of AD/ADRD pilot studies in older APAs through Common Data Elements and data-sharing; 3) serving as a national resource for linguistically/culturally tested and validated tools to assess cognition, function, and AD/ADRD care in APA populations. Focusing on the theme of People, Culture, Place, Time, RCASIA will leverage strong institutional support and relationships to solicit pilot applications from Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). We will actively engage and encourage applications from ESIs at NYC/NJ-based Minority Serving Institutions through pre-application RCASIA internships and partnership commitments from large funded studies prospectively recruiting disaggregated older APAs. Scientist mentoring will occur in the Research Education Component (co-led by a returning REC Core Lead and a newly recruited yet established AD/ADRD Education/Psychosocial Core Lead) involving mentoring/method-based Pods and ethnicity-based Teams. REC will be supported by the Leadership & Administrative Core, the Measurement & Analytical Core, and Community Liaison & Recruitment Core in selecting each year’s class of RCASIA Scientists, enhancing multi-generational method and career development in Pods, conducting transdisciplinary engagement with Community & Lived Advisors in Teams, and evaluating the outcomes of Scientists, effectiveness of the Pod/Team model, impact of Common Data Elements and data sharing, and long-term relationships between RCASIA and funded Scientists. Returning and new faculty’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access and APA brain health will contribute to RCASIA’s goal of becoming the epicenter for AD/ADRD-related Behavioral, Social, and Economic Research in older APA populations.