Press Release

November 8, 2006
Contact: Jerry Carey
Phone: (856) 566-6171
careyge@umdnj.edu

Researchers to Focus on Aging during UMDNJ Conference on Nov. 14

STRATFORD — More than 200 educators, researchers and clinicians from throughout the area are expected to attend “Aging: Advances and Challenges,” a UMDNJ research symposium, on Tuesday, Nov. 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the UMDNJ campus in Stratford.

The conference will feature the latest findings by some of New Jersey’s most renowned researchers in the field of aging, with presentations covering such topics as the physiology of age-related disease, health disparities and the aging experience, the potential for extraordinary longevity in humans, and the sometimes conflicting end-of-life preferences of patients and their spouses.

Among the researchers who will present their findings at the conference are:

Dr. Robert Nagele, of the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging (NJISA), who will report on his research on the “blood/brain barrier” as it relates to Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Nagele has hypothesized that the autoantibodies related to the amyloid plaque deposits in the brain s of Alzheimer’s patients first appear in the blood but are somehow able to penetrate the walls of blood vessels and enter into the brain. If correct, this could lead to a blood test that predicts an individual’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease while opening the door for early intervention and for the discovery of new therapeutic agents that can slow or eradicate the disease.

Dr. Vicki Freedman, of the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, who has recently published her findings on the impact of late-life disability and effective prevention strategies. Each year, about one-third of people aged 65 or older experience falls, and almost a quarter of those individuals suffer severe injuries from those falls. Dr. Freedman’s research suggests that prevention efforts aimed at frail adults could significantly cut the risk of falling and related injuries.

Dr. David Libon, also of NJISA, will discuss new developments in the diagnosis of dementia. Dr. Libon’s research indicates that individuals with dementia frequently have overlapping types, such as both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Knowing the relative pathology of each type of dementia should improve the individual’s response to medication and psychological treatment.

More information about the conference, including a complete list of presenters and their topics is available online at www.som.umdnj.edu/research/symposium.

UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.