Shreveport Forum to Focus on Latest Alzheimer's Disease Research
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Released: Monday, September 19, 2011Pennington Biomedical Research Center Experts; Physicians to Speak at Public Forum
BATON ROUGE, LA - The Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Institute for Dementia Research and Prevention (IDRP) is hosting an educational program on the latest research on dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
The free event will be held on Tuesday, October 4, at the Clarion Hotel in Shreveport. The event is sponsored by Willis-Knighton Health System. Registration begins at 5:00 p.m.
“Our work is centered on the prevention of the disease,” said Dr. Jeffrey Keller,
Ph.D., director of the IDRP at Pennington Biomedical. Keller says there are currently
100,000 individuals in Louisiana with Alzheimer’s disease.
Guests are asked to register for the forum by calling 1-877-276-8306 or visiting
http://idrp.pbrc.edu/sp/.
“In our programs across the state, we have found that individuals want to know more about Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, including signs and symptoms and other aspects that we are learning from our research studies. We want to help answer these questions and others,” said Keller. The forum is designed for individuals who want to get the latest insights into clinical research findings and advances in the field of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
The program will feature leading dementia experts, including Dr. Keller; Jeffrey Overdyke, M.D., of Willis-Knighton Health System; and John F. Bolter, Ph.D., M.P., of The NeuroMedical Center in Baton Rouge.
IDRP's annual conference series began in Baton Rouge in 2009, attracting more than 500 individuals, caregivers, and medical professionals to Pennington Biomedical each year. Because of the program’s ongoing success, the conference series expanded to include the Shreveport community in 2010. This event marks the second annual Shreveport-based conference for the IDRP.
The IDRP was established in 2009 to improve the quality of life for individuals in Louisiana through research programs focused on dementia prevention and to provide vital educational opportunities. IDRP is focused on creating clinical research infrastructure, attracting new clinical trials to the state of Louisiana and conducting conferences to promote the latest in dementia research and prevention.
"IDRP has recruited more than 1,000 Louisiana residents who are now participating in a longitudinal study to identify the basis for age-related dementia," said Dr. Keller. It is one of the largest studies of its kind in the nation aiming to develop tools for early detection and to develop therapeutic avenues for treatment.
The public forum will begin at 5:30 p.m. It will feature an open format with the opportunity to ask questions of the dementia experts. Seating, registration and exhibits will be available beginning at 5:00 p.m. The forum will be held at the Clarion Hotel, 1419 East 70th Street, Shreveport. Light refreshments will be served.
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The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is at the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the triggers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. It is a campus of Louisiana State University and conducts basic, clinical and population research. The research enterprise at Pennington Biomedical includes approximately 80 faculty and more than 25 post-doctoral fellows who comprise a network of 44 laboratories supported by lab technicians, nurses, dietitians, and support personnel, and 13 highly specialized core service facilities. Pennington Biomedical's more than 500 employees perform research activities in state-of-the-art facilities on the 222-acre campus located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
