Alzheimer's Disease: The Long Haul

Some of the most important early research into Alzheimer’s disease took place at Duke, including the identification of the genetic variant APOE4 as a major genetic predisposition for the disease. That seminal discovery and others sparked hopes that therapeutic interventions capable of preventing or even curing Alzheimer’s might be on the horizon.

Thus far, however, those hopes have remained unfulfilled, and Alzheimer’s remains one of the world’s most devastating and intractable diseases.

But we are not even close to giving up the fight. Duke scientists continue to reveal new knowledge and uncover the secrets that drive Alzheimer’s disease. Heather Whitson, MD, MHS, director of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), has shed invaluable light on the workings of the disease with longitudinal studies that track at-risk individuals over many years.

The ADRC is unique among its peers in focusing much of its research on young people — Alzheimer’s is often present decades before symptoms appear — and on Black and Native American populations, who have a significantly higher risk of the disease.

Every discovery Whitson and her colleagues across Duke make moves us closer to preventive measures, effective treatments, and ultimately a cure.

Few challenges in medicine are more daunting, or more important, than Alzheimer’s disease. That’s exactly why we have embraced this challenge, and why we will not rest until we succeed.