Comprehensive care and clinical research
The clinical component of the center will be the Memory Clinic under the direction of J. Riley McCarten, M.D., medical director of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Scheduled to open this summer, the Memory Clinic will, first and foremost, provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary assessment and care for people with dementia and their families. It will also serve as a clinical site for testing new drugs.
S. Charles Schulz, M.D., head of the Department of Psychiatry, and his colleague David C. Anderson, M.D., head of the Department of Neurology, collaborated with University of Minne-sota Physicians to spearhead the drive for the Memory Clinic because of the Twin Cities' need for comprehensive dementia care. One reason such clinics are uncommon is the expense. "They are terribly expensive, and the families are terribly in need," says Anderson. "There's a real disconnect between the revenues and the costs for running this kind of program."
The University of Minnesota's affiliation with the VA Medical Center's GRECC will give the Memory Clinic an operational and scientific head start. GRECC will serve as a model for conducting clinical research and implementing evidence-based care. "By integrating the two clinics," states McCarten, "by sharing resources and research databases, we will significantly strengthen both of them."
He also believes the Memory Clinic, as a part of the larger Center for Memory Research and Care, will facilitate treatment advances based on Ashe's research with mouse models.
"Because we are affiliated with such outstanding bench research," says McCarten, "we will be able to translate that into clinical research. We are hopeful that we will — if not cure — make a significant impact on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease."