Cleveland Alzheimer’s Center secures $21.1 million NIH renewal
The five-year National Institute on Aging award will support research into early dementia risk, Lewy body dementia, atypical Alzheimer’s disease and health disparities—while helping Northeast Ohio investigators move laboratory findings toward potential new therapies.
The National Institute on Aging has awarded a five-year grant expected to total $21.1 million to renew support for the Cleveland Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Ohio’s only NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
The multi-institution center is one of 37 NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the United States.
Why it matters
More than 7 million Americans and more than 55 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. With the U.S. population aging, those figures—and the broader population living with related forms of dementia—are continuing to grow.
The Cleveland center focuses on understanding why dementia progresses at different rates among individuals and across forms of the disease. It aims to slow disease progression and help researchers translate laboratory findings into potential new therapies.
Multi-institution model
Founded in 2019 under the leadership of Dr. Jagan Pillai of Cleveland Clinic, the center brings together clinicians and scientists from five Northeast Ohio institutions:
- Cleveland Clinic
- Case Western Reserve University
- University Hospitals
- MetroHealth System
- Veterans Affairs Northeast Ohio Health Care System
“The center is more than a research hub. It is an ongoing partnership with our community. By following participants over time, we gain invaluable insight into the earliest changes associated with dementia...,” said Pillai, director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Brain Health in Cleveland.
Research priorities
The center’s clinical and scientific work focuses on several priority populations and research areas:
- Early risk: Tracking healthy individuals at risk of developing dementia to identify the earliest changes.
- Complex conditions: Investigating Lewy body dementia and atypical Alzheimer’s disease.
- Health disparities: Studying people in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities who face higher dementia risk.
- Translational infrastructure: Supporting investigators working to translate laboratory discoveries into potential new therapies.
“One of the great strengths of the ... Center is that it brings patients and families, clinicians and scientists together across institutions,” said Brian S. Appleby, neuropsychiatrist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center and professor of neurology, psychiatry and pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Longitudinal data and education
The center uses extensive clinical, imaging and biological data collected from participants over time to evaluate dementia risk and identify potential targets for future treatments.
“The extensive clinical, imaging and biological data provided by the participants provides the foundation for developing new ways to measure and predict the risk of developing dementia and new targets to accelerate the development of effective treatments,” said Jonathan Haines, chair of the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Beyond laboratory research, the center runs education programs for scientists and healthcare professionals on the causes and treatment of dementia, while contributing to national and international research efforts.
