Mission Magazine - Alzheimer's authorities

Alzheimer's authorities
UT Medicine San Antonio physicians are at forefront of Alzheimer's research

April 2010

UT Medicine San Antonio patients benefit from having physicians who conduct important research for the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center. One new study by two UT Medicine San Antonio doctors seeks to establish how Alzheimer's disease impacts Hispanics.

Psychiatrist Donald R. Royall, M.D., and neurologist Gustavo C. Roman, M.D., are recruiting 500 Hispanics age 59 or older for a longitudinal study that will attempt to determine the prevalence of Alzheimer's in the Hispanic population and pinpoint risk factors.

Volunteers will be recruited out of a previous longitudinal study that stretched a quarter-century. As a result, researchers will have extensive medical histories on each recruit.

Drs. Royall and Roman will be joined by epidemiologist Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D.
The study began after the Health Science Center became the fifth member institution of the Texas Alzheimer's Research Consortium (TARC) last fall.

TARC is funded by the Texas Legislature. Researchers also receive support from the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science, which oversees the $26 million Clinical and Translational Science Award that the Health Science Center received from the National Institutes of Health.

To schedule an appointment or to refer a patient to a UT Medicine San Antonio physician, call (210) 450-9000. Or, visit www.utmedicine.org for more information.