Rev. Dr. James Brown Memorial Lecture: Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease Among Older African American Adults

Dr. Lisa Barnes is the Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Associate Director of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and a cognitive neuropsychologist at Rush University Medical Center. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in biopsychology and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, Davis. Her primary research interests include disparities in chronic diseases of aging, risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline, and prevention strategies to reduce the risk of dementia. She directs two community-based longitudinal cohort studies of older African Americans with the goal of measuring cognitive abilities as people age and identifying the social factors that influence change in those abilities over time. She has received many federal and foundation grants and has published over 400 manuscripts and book chapters. Dr. Barnes is also involved with many national large-scale initiatives and consortia and serves on multiple advisory boards and committees. She advocates for recruitment of high-risk populations into clinical studies and has received many awards and fellowships in recognition of her contributions to aging.