Alzheimer’s Researcher Awarded the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute Award

Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings honored for outstanding contributions to Alzheimer's research

Dr. Jeffrey L. Cummings, the Augustus S. Rose Professor of Neurology, has been awarded the 2008 Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute Award. The award was presented to Cummings last month at the Alzheimer's Association's Fifth Annual National Alzheimer's Gala at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC.

The award recognizes Cummings, who is the director of the Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research and the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics at UCLA, for his leadership and contributions to Alzheimer's research.

Cummings, an internationally renowned neurologist and expert in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, has published over 400 research articles and 20 books. He is the author of the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI), a widely used scale that measures behavioral changes in neurological disease. Cummings is an expert in drug development and clinical trials, both of which are a major focus of the Easton and Johnson Centers.

An estimated 5.2 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's. And as baby boomers reach the age of greatest risk for the disorder, the number of Americans with the disease is expected to increase to 16 million by 2050.

In 1995, former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan joined forces with the Alzheimer's Association to establish the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute, which has awarded $12 million in research grants. The Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute Award was created to honor individuals who contribute outstanding research in the field of Alzheimer's.

The Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research(Link is external) (Link opens in new window) is a comprehensive research and clinical program for individuals with memory complaints, Alzheimer's disease and related conditions. The Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics is committed to the expedient development of new medications for Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. Both Centers are part of the UCLA Department of Neurology, which encompasses more than a dozen research, clinical and teaching programs. The department ranked No. 1 in 2005 and 2006 among its peers nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding. For more information, see http://neurology.medsch.ucla.edu/(Link is external).