The Tulane Healthy Brain Aging Initiative aims to prevent cognitive decline and dementia and to reduce the burden of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. The Initiative provides four unique services to Greater New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast region:

1. Prevention: we are preventing cognitive decline and dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in persons at increased risk. This includes persons with a family history of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease or a known genetic risk, or persons who are otherwise motivated to stay cognitively fit as they age. Our clinical evaluations include a review of modifiable risk factors, mental status evaluations, genetic and other diagnostic testing, and evidence-based medical, lifestyle, and behavioral interventions to prevent cognitive decline and dementia (personalized medicine).
2. Treatment: we are treating cognitive decline and dementia, including a spectrum of disorders that range in severity from cognitive complaints, to mild cognitive impairment, to dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and posterior cortical atrophy). Our clinical evaluations include a review of symptoms and signs, cognitive and behavioral assessments, brain imaging and other diagnostic testing, and evidence-based medical, lifestyle, and behavioral interventions to reduce the severity and burden of cognitive decline and dementia (best practices).
3. Support: we support the health of our patients seen in the prevention clinic (at risk for cognitive decline and dementia) through a lifestyle coaching team who promote adherence to the Mediterranean diet, aerobic fitness, cognitive training, restorative sleep, and other brain healthy habits. We also provide support to our patients seen in the treatment clinic (with Alzheimer’s and related dementias) through a social worker led team, including information regarding supportive services and resources in the community, and psychosocial counseling to ease caregiver burden.
4. Research: we research the causes, prevention, and treatment of cognitive decline and dementia. As examples we are developing methods to predict Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in Louisiana, the Gulf Coast region, and nationally, using electronic medical records registries. We are also using electronic medical records registries to identify, evaluate, and track persons ages 90 and older with superior cognitive fitness, to gain insights into the social, medical, and biological factors that promote successful brain aging. We are also developing therapies to prevent cognitive decline and dementia, through the new science of nutrition, gut microbiome, and health.