Mayo Clinic Jacksonville gets $41 million grant for major Alzheimer's study

Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville has received a $41 million federal grant for a potentially groundbreaking study to better understand Alzheimer's disease and how the brain disorder affects people of different ethnic groups. Alzheimer's disease afflicts African-Americans at a rate twice as high as that in white populations. For Latino Americans, the risk is 1.5 times greater than that in whites.

According to Dr. Nilufer Ertekin-Taner, a Mayo Clinic professor of neuroscience and neurology who is a co-principal investigator of the study, "These populations have traditionally been understudied for Alzheimer's disease, leading to a major knowledge gap.”

With this study, Dr. Taner hopes to bridge that gap and create opportunities for all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity, to benefit from the right treatments at the right time. Such breakthroughs are made possible by the participation of African Americans and Latino Americans from the Jacksonville community in Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center studies.

Visit the Jacksonville.com story for more information about the study.